


They Remain

by DespiteWhatShouldBeOtherwise



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100
Genre: I mean it is an FNAF AU..., Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Kidnapping, implied/referenced child murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-31 03:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10890675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DespiteWhatShouldBeOtherwise/pseuds/DespiteWhatShouldBeOtherwise
Summary: Money was money, a job was a job and as much as you needed both you can't help but feel you're in over your head here.





	1. Prologue (Basic Training)

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit, I'm not too proud of this one... Ok, that's a lie, so far I like where it's going and I've actually managed to bang out 2 1/2 chapters in two or so days and that's actually something of a new record for me, I'm just not sure _WHY_ I decided to mash these two fandoms together and why they actually kind of work. Either way, here we are. So for some opening notes, this actually isn't a crossover between the two, more like and inspired AU. Hope you stick around for the ride and enjoy the story!

The place was supposed to be haunted according to legend, the shifts lasted six hours and your sleep schedule would be fucked up beyond repair, but money was money, a job was a job and you really needed both. And of course, the words "help wanted" and "13,500 yen per week" and "no experience required" never hurt either. One phone interview and a bus ride later and here you are, standing in front of a large concrete building at 11:20 at night, armed with a simple bottle of Tiovita 2000, staring at the image of a large smiling bear above the entrance and wondering whether dropping out of University was really such a good idea.  
  
"Hey!" You're jolted out of your reverie by a rather annoyed voice coming from the entrance. Hanging out the doors is a man made up of thinning hair, ruddy cheeks and a pinched look on his face that made it clear that all he wanted to do was go home for the night. "You the new guy?"  
  
"Yeah." you reply, stepping forward. Might as well be polite. "Arataka Reigen." You say as you stick out your hand. He gives you a once-over, eyes lingering on your stained shirt and worn slacks that have seen better days before turning around and heading into the restaurant.  
  
"Won't last the first week…" You hear him mutter before he turns around and addresses you directly. "Well come on, I gotta get you through basic training." You stand dumbly for a moment, hand hanging in front of you, before you sigh and stride forward. So the co-workers leave much to be desired. You'll still get that weekly paycheck in the end. Whats-his-face leads you through the vestibule and the hallway and into a small room that is obviously a security office.  
  
"This here is the security office." He says and picks up what looks like a tablet. "Cameras are connected wirelessly to the monitor." He continues, turning it on. Immediately the image of three still… things… standing on what looks like a stage appears on screen. In the bottom corner of the screen are several squares labeled things like "CAM1A," "CAM2B" and so on. Whats-his-face continues. "The monitor here is connected to the security cameras. If you wanna switch between the cameras-" he cuts off as you reach out and tap the square labeled "CAM2B." The image switches to a hallway, much like the one outside.  
  
"Tap the boxes in the corner, that switches the cameras. Make sure no one gets in and steals the uncooked pizza or something." You reply, standing up. Seriously, does this guy think you don't know how to work a damn tablet? "Thanks for the training, I got this and I'll see you tomorrow." The guard just looks at you in a way that suggests he would love nothing more than to just leave you there without anything else.  
  
"There's more to it dipshit." He growls and he switches the monitor off and heads towards the open doorways, gesturing for you to follow. "These here are the doors."  
  
"Door frames more like." you reply, eyeing the empty outlet skeptically.  
  
"I'm getting to that.." Whats-his-face replies impatiently and comes to a halt beside a set of buttons beside the doorframe, one red and one white. "Now, the doors are in a bit of a blind spot and don't show up on the cameras. So from time to time you might want to check outside with this light here." He presses the white button on the bottom and the hallway outside lights up.  
  
_Okay..._ you think to yourself as you continue to peer at the light through the frame. _That's different..._ Whats-his-face keeps going.  
  
"If you see anything out there you don't think you can beat to death with a flashlight…" And with a swift mechanical whirring and heavy THUD, a sheet of metal appears inches in front of your nose. You leap backwards, letting out a rather undignified yelp and wind up falling on your ass, staring up at the now full doorframe. Shaking, you turn your gaze towards the guard, giving you a rather nasty grin with his thumb still on the red button. You sigh and do your best to stand on legs that have suddenly been turned to jelly.  
  
"Alright." you say, still trying to convince your heart to vacate your throat. "Ok, didn't see that coming." Whats-his-face chuckles, presses the red button once again and the door slides back into the ceiling with an audible clunk.  
  
"So those are your doors and cameras, and that's pretty much all you can really do from here." He continues. "Now, the entire facility is run on limited power during the night, these things don't run on static you know, so you don't wanna go closing your doors left and right. " he pauses to give a small laugh at his own joke and you interject because this was not discussed in the interview.  
  
"Limited power?"  
  
"Yep." he responds. "Doesn't kick in until midnight, that's why the place is still lit up now, but apparently once that clock hits 12 it gets in here." He lets out another cruel chuckle at what must be a very panicked expression on your face. "Oh relax." he says as he waves his hand dismissively. "It's only the doors and the monitor that use a ton of power. Don't keep the doors closed, don't stare at the monitor for too long and you'll be fine." He gestures to what looks like a pair of digital clocks on the desk. "This right here," he says, gesturing to the one on the left "tells you how much power you have left."  
  
"What about that one?" You ask, pointing at the one on the right.  
  
"It's a clock dipshit." He replies, looking at you like you just asked in all seriousness what color the sky was. "It tells time." He glances at it, the little red numbers spelling out 11:35. "Huh, we still got time." he mutters before turning around and striding through the doorframe. "Well come on." He calls out. "You still need the tour." You move out, eyeing the doorframe cautiously, and follow him back towards the entrance, whats-his-face still muttering. "Don't know why I gotta show you all this, you're only gonna see it through cameras anyway." The two of you come to a stop in the vestibule and the man launches into an unenthusiastic spiel.  
  
"This over here is the prize corner." the guy says, gesturing to a door off to the right. "It's pretty self-explanatory, kids exchange tickets for shitty prizes, throw a fit when they don't have enough tickets and go back to the arcade over there to try and win some more." With that, he gestures to the door to the left and walks down the hallway by the prize corner. "There's not too much on the left side of the building, just the employee break room, a few closets, that kind of shit." You continue down and come to a stop in front of a set of double doors.  
  
"This here's the kitchen, standard fast food set up, gets cleaned up every night after closing at 10 so that's not really your problem." He doesn't even give you a chance to ask anything before continuing down the hallway and through the door. "And don't try to steal any food from there either, management will have your ass." You want to reply with something witty or sarcastic, but when you walk through the doors at the end of the hallway, you need a moment to take in your surroundings: the high ceilings, the rows of tables and chairs lined up neatly, the stage that almost took up the entire end of the room.  
  
"Oi!." You snap out to see the guard halfway towards the stage, glaring at you impatiently.  
  
"Sorry." you huff as you jog to catch up to him and try to think of a way to explain just why you were staring. "It's pretty huge isn't it?" He simply huffs in response and rolls his eyes.  
  
"Forget the first week won't even last the first night. Anyway," He gestures around as you continue to walk. "This here is the main attraction: the stage and the cafeteria. This place here sees most of the action during the day and almost none at night, lucky for you." He pauses in front of the large steps leading up to the stage and turns around to face you. "Again, you don't have too much to worry about here. Now over there are the bathrooms," you follow his arm to the two doors on one side of the hall. "And over here you've got some spare parts and stuff." This time he gestures to a small door next to the stage. As you look over the rest of the room, a smaller curtain towards the hallway catches your eye.  
  
"And that over there?" He spares it a small glance.  
  
"Oh, that's just Kero's Corner."  
  
"Kero?" The man whips around and stares at you as if you’ve grown a second head.  
  
"KaiheiKero?" Your face remains blank. "You've seriously never heard of these guys? Why the hell do you wanna work here then?"  
  
"Money is money and a job is a job." He's still staring at you as if it hadn't occurred to him that someone hadn't heard of these characters.  
  
"Well, now you've got to meet them." He gives you a wicked grin and walks through the curtain. Once again, you follow him and find yourself almost nose to nose with a horrible grinning face. For the second time that night, you fall backwards with an unmanly yelp to the tune of that asshole laughing his head off, leaning against one of the robots for support. "Now," he says once you stand up and he stops laughing long enough to actually talk, "these guys aren't actually attached to anything as you can see, and they are set to a sort of "free roam" mode during the night. Prevents their joints from freezing up or some shit." This is also new.  
  
"Free roam?"  
  
"Yep. They probably just wander around the dining hall or something. Programming probably won't let them go anywhere else. Now, this here is PonPon, our lovely drummer." He says and gives the large, rather round hamster he's been leaning on a quick pat before standing up and continuing. "Right there is TachiTan, not too popular with too many kids believe it or not." He points out a rather demonic looking weasel grinning madly and holding a bright blue guitar. "KaiheiKero's got his own corner over there, been on the fritz lately, and you've got the big man himself, UtaKuma." That much was obvious, it's a dead ringer for the bear on the building, right down to the large smile and microphone. "That's pretty much all there is to the place." He finishes, coming up to hang off the bear's shoulder. "Got any questions?" Not really. Despite the less than enthusiastic tour guide, there really doesn't seem to be more to this job other than babysitting some robots.  
  
"No. Seems easy enough." The guy scoffs and heads back through the curtain.  
  
"Must be harder than it looks I tell ya." He mutters. "Seriously. We go through night guards like brats go through pizza here. Most barely last week before they drop from the stress. I mean really. What do you have to be stressed about?" To your credit, you don't miss a beat.  
  
"The fact that they walk around at night." He dismisses your concern with a flippant wave.  
  
"Oh that's nothing. Seriously, me and Banshoumaru get more shit from the damn kids than these creeps. And don't even get me started on the parents."  
  
"Banshoumaru?"  
  
"The other day guard." His face actually perks up for a second. "Oh, that reminds me, wait here." He heads off into the hallway, leaving you alone in the dining hall. You take another moment to look around the place, still trying to take most of it in. After a moment your eyes wander back to the stage and you're pretty sure you're just tired or maybe it's a trick of the fluorescent lights but it almost looks as though the curtain is moving. And then a hand alights on your shoulder and you swing around, coming face to face with the guard. "Here, go get changed." he says, tossing a soft package at your chest. You catch it and eye it for a moment.  
  
"What's this?" You ask, turning it over in your hands.  
  
"You're uniform," he replies. "Now go get changed." Well, there's nothing else to it. You head into the boys room and open the package. It's pretty standard as far as uniforms go; blue shirt, black tie, slacks that aren't frayed or worn, heck they even threw in a belt with a holster in. For a brief moment, you wonder why a security guard for a children's restaurant would need a holster, but then you get to the best part of the uniform and all other thoughts leave your mind. It's a hat. It's an honest to goodness black hat. True it had that damn bear on the front, so the illusion was ruined a bit, but it was still a pretty good imitation of a police hat. You put it on snuggly and catch a glance of yourself in the mirror. You think to yourself as you roll up the sleeves. Still, you can't help but smile a little bit, your mind following its own path to childhood fantasies of pretend and dress-up. Immediately, you stop smiling. Can't waste time on those childish games; you have a job to do.  
  
You stride out of the bathroom, old slacks and shirt wrapped in the package. Whats-his-face looks up from picking his nose and he gives you another once-over. Without a word, he slips the flashlight out of his own holster ( _So that's what those are for._ ) and hands it over in a move that you think is supposed to be reminiscent of the older, more experienced sempai handing the baton off to the young and eager kouhai. "Welcome to UtaKuma's." he says with another off-putting grin. You take the flashlight and holster it. That's it. You're official now.  
  
"Thanks, uh," It suddenly occurs to you that you have no idea what the other guy's name is. As off-putting and sleazy as he's been, the guy has been kind of helpful. You owe him a thank you at least. So you peer at the nametag pinned to his shirt and almost do a double take when you find out his name. "Ekubo?" He gives you a withering look that just dares you to ask. You decide not to take that risk and instead straighten up. "Yeah, thanks. I got it from here." Ekubo simply nods and looks down at his watch.  
  
"Right, it's 11:50, I am off." The two of you walk back down through the hallway towards the entrance. Abruptly, Ekubo turns around and addresses you. "Oh by the way, company policy dictates that I lock you in here with the creepy robots. That gonna be a problem?" Still, you simply shrug and do your best to look nonchalant.  
  
"Stay in the office, don't take food from the kitchen, babysit the creepy free-roaming robots, what's the worst that can happen?" Ekubo turns around and closes the front doors. Once again, he gives you a wicked grin and you can barely feel a shiver run up your spine when his keys turn and the lock slides home with an inaudible click that sounds like an ominous thud in the silence of the restaurant.  
  
"You'll be the first to know dipshit."


	2. Night 1: Getting Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are found, things are lost and other things move around and try to kill you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said before, I managed to get 2 1/2 chapters done in the past few days, so I figured I'd post the next chapter right away rather than procrastinate and put it off until later. So here's the first night on the job! Hope you enjoy!

You stride back into the office, a little lonelier and a little less at ease. Sitting at the desk, you take a moment to briefly glance at the monitors, flipping through the cameras. There’s the grand stage, a wide shot of the dining hall, Kero’s Corner, both hallways, the arcade and prize corner, the kitchen, which oddly enough was only a blank screen.  
  
“Audio only huh?” You mutter and then smile to yourself. Maybe you can sneak in and steal some pizza or fries later. Back to the cameras. You flip past the break room ( _It’s locked, why does it need a camera?_ ), a storage closet, the entrance to the bathrooms and inside the private party room. The next image makes you freeze a bit. It’s a small room, full of broken metal parts, discarded wires, and even more disturbing, the empty grinning heads of the mascots. You swallow for a moment to calm your nerves. _That’s probably the spare parts room._ You think to yourself as you try not to think of a butcher’s shop instead. _Nothing to it._  
  
You flip through the screen one more time before lowering the monitor and glancing at the clock.  
  
[11:59]  
  
With a small sigh, you lean back in the chair and cross your arms behind your head. _Everything’s in its place, doors are all locked and it looks like an easy night._  
  
All at once, the lights in the hallway go off. You stiffen, and throughout the facility you can hear the sound of the power going down, finishing with one final slam and leaving you in total darkness and silence with only the overhead light in the office, (your office for now you suppose) and the red glow of the clock for company.  
  
[12:00]  
[100%]  
  
Time to get started.  
  
To be safe, you pull up the monitor and steal a quick glance at the three animatronics on the stage.  
  
“All present and accounted for.” You mutter, putting it down and leaning back in your chair and closing your eyes. Rocking back and forth, you consider what you can do next. Maybe you could screw with the animatronics a bit; give that weasel’s guitar to PomPom or whatever the hamster’s name was. Nah. Ekubo said management was really anal when it came to the animatronics, you don’t need to go getting fired after the first night. Still, there isn’t really too much to do and drumming your fingers on the desk or spinning in the chair can only occupy your mind for so long. Still, only an hour’s past and you’re starting to feel a little tired. You reach across the desk and grab your bottle of Tiovita, opening it and taking a swig.  
  
A loud bang resounds from somewhere in the facility. The bottle cap falls from your fingers with a clatter and you bolt upright, finger streaking towards the red button on the left door before you stop yourself.  
  
_It’s probably nothing._ You think to yourself. _Yeah, it’s nothing._ A second sudden bang cuts through the silence and you jam your finger on the red button and the door slams down. Breathing heavily, you turn back to the desk.  
  
“The monitor dipshit.” You mutter, picking it up and nearly dropping it at the image on the screen. The stage is in complete darkness, but the animatronics are larger than life and easy to make out. All two of them.  
  
The hamster is nowhere to be seen.  
  
You take another deep breath and Ekubo’s words from minutes ago come back to you.  
  
_”They’re set to a sort of ‘free roam’ mode during the night. Prevents their joints from freezing up or some shit.” _Free roam. Of course, that was it. Still shaking, you pull up the image from Camera 1B, the wide shot of the dining hall. Ah there it was. Just standing between two tables. You put the monitor down and let out a sigh and begin to sink into your seat. Ok, so the animatronics roaming around at night were kind of creepy, but that was just part of their programming right? Nothing to worry about. You glance at your power and your stomach drops to the floor.__  
  
[89%]  
  
How in the the hell had it dropped that much? And then it hits you. Getting up, you stride over to the door and press the top button once again, releasing the door. You return to your desk and glance at the clock.  
  
[1:30]  
[89%]  
  
“It’s ok, you can do this.” You murmur to yourself before sitting down. Your back arches forward as you take a moment to rub the sweat from your face. “I’ve got plenty of power, I can last the night. I’ll be fine.” You reach out and take another swig of Tiovita, and one more for good measure. Now, where did you put your cap?  
  
“Ah.” You mutter as you remember and you get down on your knees to look under the desk. Yep. There it is. As you stretch out your arm, you spot something under else under the desk. Something that looks like a small plastic square. Given that you don’t have too much to do this night, you figure you might as well investigate. Could be fun. So you retrieve the bottle cap and reach out once again, fingertips grazing the dark plastic once, twice, before you’re able to pull the thing towards you. You stand up, dust off your shirt and slacks before you stare at whatever is in your hand.  
  
It’s a recorder. One of those old ones that still uses cassette tapes. You didn’t think anyone used these anymore. Curious, you press the button with the small arrow on it, only to have silence greet your ears. Of course, you have to rewind it. So you wait a moment for the tape to run backwards when a third thump reaches your ears. Naturally, you jump about a foot in the air, but it takes less time for you to remember the free roam thing. The tape finishes rewinding with a small squeal. Your focus returns to your hand and you press the small button labeled play. There is a brief moment where silence is the only thing coming out of the speaker before a slew of sound blooms. You can just make out the now familiar hum of the fluorescent light overhead, heavy breathing punctuated by the sound of metal repeatedly hitting metal. And then comes the voice.  
  
“So, uh. This is- uh. I’ve gotten to night five h-here and it, um, it hasn’t really been a good night. The time is- it’s 4 am now, I’m down to about, 1% of power and, well. It’s just been, I just.” At that moment, the man’s voice breaks and he lets out a small, choked up sob. “I, I had no fucking idea it was gonna be like this! That bastard didn’t tell me ANYTHING about this shit! He said those things were supposed to stay in the dining room! They aren’t supposed to-“ The electrical humming cut off and you can hear the door slide open on the tape. “Oh god. Oh god the power just ran out. Oh my god, oh my god oh my go-“ Once again, the man on the recording pauses as a cheerful jingle comes on. You make out another choked sob. “Oh shit, they’re here. They’re right outside my door.” The man gulps and speaks again, voice oddly steady. “If anyone finds this, then you can probably find me- my, my body in, in…” For the second time in the recording, the man chokes up and begins sobbing freely. “Please, please I don’t want to die. I don’t wanna die please!” As if in response, the jingle stops and there is almost a full minute of silence before a grating mechanical screech assaults your ears harmonizing with the horrified wordless howl before cutting off with a crunch.  
  
You stand frozen in place for a minute. Then two minutes. You could stand here all year and still not fully comprehend what you just heard. You aren’t shaking, you aren’t trembling, you’re barely even sweating. You don’t even jump when you hear a shuffling just beyond your left door. Your head slowly turns around to stare into the darkness just outside. Beyond terror now, you smoothly walk towards the door, eyes desperately trying to make sense or shape of the shadows. You reach out a steady hand and press your finger to the white button on the door-frame.  
  
The lights flare to life and a manic lifeless grin comes to life with it. Time seems to work once again and you can see the weasel lean forward as if to enter the office. You ignore your basic instincts, everything telling you to get as far away from this creature as humanly possible and instead throw your entire body forward. You hit the red button with your entire hand and the door slides down, narrowly missing the thing’s nose.  
  
You catch your breath for a moment and belatedly throw yourself backwards with a cry. Scrambling back up, you wrench the monitor towards you and frantically search through the cameras. In the arcade, you can barely make out the shape of the giant weasel, standing in front of one of the games as if waiting for it to come back to life. Another small shuffle barely reaches your ears and you throw yourself forward once more to lean on the red button on the right door. The door slides down once again and you stand up, pressing the white button below it. Through the window, you can see the wide eyes and buck teeth of the hamster, grinning through the window at you. Whimpering, you release the light and the hamster fades into darkness once again. Smaller cries escape your lips and turn into a series of mad laughs, complete with tears streaming down your face. You don’t give a damn. No one’s here to see you lose your mind and you’re about to die anyway. Sometime during your breakdown, your eyes find the power gauge.  
  
[3:00]  
[42%]  
  
You rub your arm across your eyes, bury your head in your hands for a moment and surface with a heavy sigh. There was no avoiding it then. You can’t keep the doors closed the entire night. You’ll run out of power and then you’ll be dead. The only way you can last until your shift ends is to leave the doors open and close them once those things are outside. Of course, if you screw up you’re dead anyway, but it would be better than just rolling over and dying right?  
  
Flipping through the monitor, you can see that the hamster has wandered to the restrooms during your inner monologue. You can’t find the weasel, but if the banging from the kitchen is any clue he’s found his way there. The bear is still on stage and the curtain to Kero’s corner hasn’t been disturbed since the beginning of the night. You put the monitor down and walk over to the doors, pressing the buttons and releasing the doors. You sit down and glance at the clock and power gauge.  
  
[3:30]  
{39%]  
  
You have a long way to go.  
  
The next few hours consist of flipping through the screens, trying to track the animatronics as they moved through the restaurant. From what you can tell, it’s only the hamster and the weasel that are out and the two don’t seem to move around too much. The hamster hangs out in the bathroom for a few minutes before suddenly disappearing and reappearing in the prize corner. Meanwhile the weasel has gone from the storage closet to the arcade to the middle of the dining hall to outside the office for a second time that night. As the door slides down, you immediately look to the monitors for some trace of the hamster. She’s not in the dining hall or the prize corner or the main stage or with the kid backstage or Kero’s Corner-  
  
Your blood runs cold and you frantically pull up the backstage feed again. That was impossible. Murderous robots aside, Ekubo had locked the doors when he left. There should be no easy way into this place. But you still see it, clear as day on the camera.  
  
There was a small kid backstage curled up next to an empty bear suit.  
  
You blink, waiting for the image to fade and to be revealed as a figment of your imagination. The boy remains on the screen; you can see him curl even tighter into himself. You flip through the other images, searching for the other animatronics. The weasel is down the left hallway and you can spot the hamster in the arcade. The bear is still onstage and Kero’s Corner hasn’t changed since last you checked. The darkness outside your right door seems to beckon you and you silently debate whether or not this is such a good idea. The kid seems to have been doing fine on his own, and besides, you have your own skin to worry about. And you really don’t want to leave the almost safety of the office to traipse through a gigantic death trap with two killer robots on the loose, what with their grinning maws and demonic smiles as they stared at your through the cameras and the windows of the office.  
  
If you’re scared, how does the kid feel now?  
  
You pull up the monitor one more time and see that the weasel and the hamster are still where you left them. Putting the screen down, you stride towards the right door and pause in front of it. You swallow as you adjust your tie, pull your flashlight from your belt and, for extra measure, adjust your hat before stepping into the shadows.  
  
You click the flashlight on and the bulb illuminates the empty hallway in front of you. You take a moment to remind your feet not to feel heavy as you start forward, crouching low against the wall. Evidently, your feet are in no mood to listen to you as they softly click across the tile. It feels like an eternity later when you pass the kitchen and finally reach the door to the main dining area. Switching off your flashlight, you crack the door open an inch and peer through. The once impressive vastness of the hall is now unsettling and you can barely make anything out. It doesn’t look like there are any animatronics in there, so you crawl through the door and stride forward towards the stage. Suddenly, you detect movement out of the corner of your eye and you zero in on it. The door on the left side of the hall is inching open, slowly and silently. Not bothering to keep low to the ground, you fly across the hall and throw yourself through the door into one of the bathrooms, breathing heavily as you put your back to the door and slide to the floor.  
  
You wait a minute; two minutes and after an infinitely long amount of time, you calm down, breathing returning to normal and hands quieting. You turn around, still crouched on the floor and inch the bathroom door open. The hamster is standing in the middle of the hall, back turned to you, staring at the curtain to Kero’s Corner. Briefly, your eyes flicker to the backstage door, then back to the animatronic. _How am I gonna get in there?_ you think, eyes darting around the area for a place to hide. It hits you then. The curtain to the main stage is drawn. And from what you remember of the monitor, the bear hasn’t moved at all tonight.  
  
Against your better judgment, you lean down and untie your shoes, eyes on the robot. Once both of them are un-tied, you quietly toe them off your feet. Pushing the door open slowly, you creep out, and head towards the stage, hitting the wall. Your feet hug the floor, socks silent on the tile and you don’t even dare to blink lest the robot move and see you. Eventually, you work your way up the large steps towards the stage and slink behind the curtain.  
  
The hamster is out of sight but you don’t let yourself feel relief. Not yet. You turn around first and meet the lifeless gaze of the bear looming behind you. You wait one minute. Then another. When it becomes clear that the bear is not going to move, then you let out a quiet sigh of relief and silently pad to the other end of the stage. Peeking out behind the curtain, you can make out the shape of the hamster has moved now and is standing in front of the bathrooms, it’s back to you. You can barely see in the dark but it looks as though it’s holding something in its hand. A roughly shoe shaped thing…  
  
Same as before, you creep out of your hiding place, remaining close to the walls and low to the ground. Your hand gropes blindly along the wall until it comes into contact with what feels like a doorknob. You continue to take deep breaths through your nose.  
  
_Like a band-aid now._  
  
One.  
  
Two.  
  
Before your mind can reach three, you rip open the door as quietly as you can and slither into the back room, closing the door behind you with a soft click. The second sigh dies somewhere in your lungs when you realize that you may have made a slight mistake. While the small lights on the security cameras provided some light on the monitor and the moon through the windows and skylights provided some visibility in the rest of the building, this room is completely cut off from both at the moment. It’s pitch black and you can’t see an inch in front of your face. The room is also quiet. No sniffles or sobs, or anything to indicate that there’s someone else in the room. You reach down for your flashlight and flick it on. Immediately your hand flies to your mouth to stifle a scream as you come face to face with the weasel, grinning malevolently at you. And then you see that it has no eyes. Or body. In fact, it’s just a head. You shine your light around the room, beam shaking in the darkness. The entire room is filled with bits of metal and scrap and wire and you silently berate yourself for being such a sissy when there’s someone else depending on you. Speaking of which…  
  
“Hello?” You call out to the darkness, voice barely rising above a whisper. No one responds. “Hello? Are you here?” Still nothing. Undeterred, you try one more time. “I saw you on the cameras. It’s okay, you can trust me.” And then something moves out from behind a smiling cat robot. You shine your light on it and whatever it was moves back behind the suit. You stride over there and crouch down, peering behind it. The kid from the camera stares back at you, wide eyes staring at you from beneath straight black bangs. You sigh and smile in relief.  
  
“Hey.” You say, not breaking eye contact with the kid. “Hi, are you okay?” The kid just continues to stare at you before opening his mouth and speaking aloud.  
“Who are you?” He asks. You would think that the uniform made it obvious. Still, the kid is probably scared out of his mind and can’t think straight. You adjust your cap with shaking fingers and try to flash the kid a confident smile.  
  
“I’m the night guard. Don’t worry now, ok? It’s gonna be alright.” The kid just continues to stare at you and you marvel at the fact that kids can make you feel incredibly awkward even in the face of death. You decide to continue. “Can you move?” The kid nods, eyes still not leaving you. “Good.” You reply. “Now I need you to listen very carefully to me. My office is by the entrance; it’s safer there. What we’re gonna do is head back there and hide out until morning, got it?” The kid nods again. “Now, we’re gonna have to be really quiet ok?” Another nod. You nod in return and stand up straight; best not to wait around. “Alright then, let’s go kid.” You head over to the door, turn off your light and crack it open an inch. The cafeteria is empty. Turning back to the room, you can barely make out the kid, standing a ways away from you, looking absolutely terrified. You stick that smile back on your face, reassure him that everything will be okay, that if he sticks with you he’ll get through this and about halfway through your speech you lose sight of who exactly you’re trying to reassure. So you cut yourself off and simply offer your hand to the kid. “Ready?” He nods and moves forward to stand next to you, not taking your hand. You look out the door once again, cafeteria still empty. “Okay let’s go.”  
  
You creep out the door and into the open hall, the kid glued to your side. Your heavy breathing fills your ears and you alternate between looking in front of you at the door, off to the sides at the bathrooms and Kero’s Corner and behind you at the stage. As you pass the middle of the hall, the door to the right side hallway slowly opens and you screech to a halt.  
  
“Table.” You say aloud as you dive underneath the nearest one. The kid follows suit and the two of you situate yourselves in the middle of the floor. You both sit completely still, eyeing the inch of space between the plastic tablecloth and the floor. A slow methodic clunking fills your ears and the silhouette of one of the animatronics shambles past your hiding place. You knew that they were moving around, you’ve been hearing them throughout the night, but now you actually have visible proof and you bite your tongue to keep yourself from screaming in horror. You meet the wide-eyed stare of the kid as you tear your eyes away from the silhouette and you mentally berate yourself.  
  
_Keep it together. Keep it together. You’re a grown ass man and you can get through this._ After a minute or two, you slowly lift up the tablecloth and peer in the direction the animatronic went off in. The room is empty and your eyes find the door to the parts room as it slowly closes.  
  
You gesture to the kid as you stand back up and head towards the door to the arcade side hallway. As quickly and quietly as you can, you both move through the door and walk briskly down towards the entrance. The fluorescent lighting of the security office greets you like an old friend you hadn’t seen in years and you find yourself tearing up at the sight. You made it. You and the kid are safe. On a whim, you turn around and look back at the door to the cafeteria. The door to the supply closet is now standing open and you can see a furry hand extend from behind it.  
  
“Go!” you say to the kid, not even bothering to be quiet anymore and you sprint into the office, jamming your finger on the red button and closing the door. You collapse into the chair and bury your head in your hands again, shaking and laughing and crying all at the same time. You glance up and see the kid, staring off to the side in horror at something.  
  
“Hey, hey kid.” You say as you follow his gaze. “Kid it’s okay, we made it. We’re-“ You cut off and you can literally feel your blood temperature drop several degrees as your eyes lock onto what the kid has been staring at. The power gauge has dropped to a single number glowing an ominous red.  
  
[0%]  
  
“Oh god.” You say softly and with a mechanical groan, everything shuts off. The overhead lights, the fan, the clock, the power gauge, and the locks. The door slides upwards, leaving nothing between you, the kid and the darkness past the threshold. Your breath speeds up as a familiar tune jingles to life outside your door. A white light repeatedly flashes through the deep blackness, revealing only a pair of eyes and a set of rounded teeth. Immediately, you stand and put yourself between that thing and the kid, backing up slightly and you feel something crunch underneath your foot.  
  
“Kid.” You say, keeping your eyes on the blinking face. “Kid listen, I’m gonna try to fight them off. While they’re, while they’re busy with me, you book it out of here as fast as you can ok?” You gulp and take another step back. Find a place to hide and stay there until morning, understand?” The kid remains silent and the music continues to build to a climax. “Kid.” You say gruffly. “Do you hear me, get out of here, I’ll be fine.” There’s no way the kid is buying this. Hell you barely believe it and you’re the one saying it. “Kid-“ At once, the music cuts off and the blinking stops and you’re left in darkness once again with only your shaking breaths and a silent kid for company.  
  
And the, from elsewhere in the restaurant, a series of chimes sound loud and clear.  
  
One  
  
Two  
  
Three  
  
Four  
  
Five  
  
Six  
  
There’s a slow shuffling outside your door and you can barely make out a hunkering form turning around and moving down the hallway.  
  
You can barely move, feeling as if you so much as lifted a finger, whatever that thing was would surely come back. Cautiously, you take a single step forward, waiting for something to pop out and kill you. When nothing comes out, you take another step forward, and another, all the way out the office, down the hallway and towards the door of the main dining area. You open the door slightly just in time to see the curtain flutter back into place.  
  
On shaky legs, you make your way back to the office. “Kid.” You say as you reach the open door. “Kid it’s ok, I think they-“ The office is completely empty, no trace of any kids anywhere, but somewhere on the edges of your hearing, you can hear a soft voice addressing you.  
  
“Are you _trying_ to die?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's pretty much all there is to the first night. Next chapter we'll take a look at the day life and maybe find out what the hell is with this restaurants. No shout outs for comments on the last chapter, or for Kudos either because the previous chapter hasn't been up long enough to get either as far as I can tell from here. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!


	3. Day 1: Company Policy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Complaints are made, co-workers are met and you somehow manage to take credit for the greatest prank you've never pulled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been forever hasn't it? So sorry about the long wait (if anyone was waiting for this update...) but like I said in Paper Moon, life has been hitting hard lately and I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to get writing. But, with that out of the way, we now see how Reigen deals with the fact that his new workplace is apparently trying to kill him right off the bat.

It’s probably a beautiful morning outside. 6:00am. The sun will be peeking over the rooftops of your town, stirring birds and insects and plant-life alike. People will be going about their morning routines, drinking coffee, eating toast, maybe yelling at their kids or wife before going off to work in some comfortable office in an nice safe building that didn’t have homicidal animatronics and strange kids that may or may not have been in cahoots with said animatronics.  
  
_”Are you trying to die?”_ Well no, that was not what you were going for kid. In fact you’re still not sure what you were going for. In fact, you’re still trying to figure out just why you left the relative safety of the security office to navigate the killer robot infested halls to rescue a kid who disappeared as soon as the going got tough. Hopefully that whole thing will sort itself out as soon as your brain is fully capable of coming to terms with the whole killer animatronic thing.  
  
As if the universe hasn’t fucked with you enough lately, something knocks on the doorframe. You’ve been up all night. You’ve been dodging murderous robots, hazardous working conditions, possible attempted murder by the day guard and a potential ghost on the premises. You no longer give a shit about dignity, or composure or anything else like that. As such, you let out a truly terrible scream and throw yourself at the buttons, door whirring down and slamming shut.  
  
“Rough night?” a voice asks from behind the steel plating. A decidedly human voice with no hint of any mechanical trimmings whatsoever.  
  
“Sorry.” You reply, pushing the button again to be greeted by the sight of a tall, rather concerned looking man. “You could say something like that.” The man smiles sympathetically as he brushes the dark, lank hair out of his eyes.  
  
“Yeah, the nights can get pretty boring if you don’t have anything to do.” You simply stare dumbfounded at him, not taking into account the fact that this guy most likely works here during the day and only sees those monstrosities when they’re actually behaving around kids.  
  
“The animatronics moved around.” The guy continues to smile sympathetically at your blubbering.  
  
“Yeah, the free roam function stops their joints from locking up. Everyone knows that.”  
  
“No.” You reply flatly. “No, they tried to kill me.” Now it’s other guard’s turn to look dumbfounded.  
  
“…They tried to kill you.” He says, raising an eyebrow skeptically. You can’t quite muster up the energy to nod frantically so you instead settle for a drowsy up and down movement. Sounds like he’s finally getting it.  
  
“They tried to kill me.” You repeat. The other guard is looking decidedly uncomfortable now and he cautiously sidesteps through the door and into the office.  
  
“Yeah, ok,” he says, dragging the statement out a bit. “You sound like you’ve had a long night, so why don’t you go home and gets some sleep.”  
  
“Long night?” You repeat, shoulders slumping a bit. The guard nods as he strides into the office and claps you on the shoulder.  
  
“Yeah, go home. You’re shift’s over anyway.”  
  
“Okay…” You reply softly. Home sounds excellent right about now. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that.” You turn around and head stiffly out of the office, through the hallway and out the double doors.  
  
It’s probably a beautiful morning. The sun is indeed just starting to peek over the rooftops and you can just barely hear a few birds nesting in the trees. People give you funny looks as you sit down on the bench to wait for the bus. The ride home and the walk back to your apartment are also filled with strange looks and you briefly wonder what your face looks like. The thought immediately leaves your addled brain the second you hit your bed face first before you close your eyes and descend into what is, undoubtedly, a well-deserved sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_The whole thing was really your daddy’s fault. If he hadn’t been so inca- incompto- If he had actually been able to do things right the first time around then you wouldn’t be stuck in this whole mess. How hard was it to replace an Ice Cream Cake with a Cheesecake? Seriously._  
  
_And come to think of it, if the kitchen had chefs that could actually MAKE Cheesecake instead of heating up frozen foods and then daring to call themselves “chefs,” you wouldn’t have snuck back to the restaurant to meet that guy and get some Cheesecake in the first place. And of course, you never got your cake either so needless to say this whole situation had gone to the dogs, as your daddy says..._  
  
...  
  
_Used to say you suppose. You haven’t seen him for a while now. You haven’t really seen anyone else for a while. There’s always that guy from before, but you don’t really count him. You hate him after all and after what he did you think he ought to burn in Hell, and you would be more than happy to put him there._  
  
_It might be a good thing your daddy isn’t here because he never let you say those things aloud. Still, as inco- incompi- As much as daddy got things wrong and as much as he wouldn’t let you say what you want, you kind of miss him. But he isn’t here now and you can say words like “Hell” and “crud” and “buttface” all you damn well please and you can think about that guy dying in horrible and terrible ways._  
  
_You got him a while back. You and the others that he bought here. But he never stays where you put him. He keeps coming back and coming back and the other kids keep getting to him first and its no fair._  
  
_You wish the others were slower. You wish they’d give you a turn with him. You wish you weren’t stuck here most nights, unable to move, unable to walk around like the rest of them. You kind of wish the others would come back here more often. No one comes back here anymore._  
  
_Well, no one except for that crying wimp and that guy that one time, but you wouldn’t really consider them good company; the guy because of what he did to you and the others, and the wimp because he won’t freaking stop crying._  
  
_Whatever. You’d get that guy again soon enough. And again and again and again and as many times as he keeps coming back. And when he finally stops coming back, you and the others are going to get the hell out of here._  
  
…  
  
_You hope you can still eat Cheesecake like this…_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

You knew your sleep schedule was fucked the moment you took the job. You knew that the hours were weird and you’d be working nights (after all, the ad was for a _NIGHT_ watchman) and give or take a few weeks you’d wind up fully nocturnal. All the same, you get the sense that you wasted the day sleeping when you blink the sleep from your eyes and squint at the small red numbers.  
  
[12:10 pm]  
  
Sluggishly, you cast your eyes around, trying to see how much power you have left. _Can’t use too much power…_ You think to yourself. Squeezing your eyes shut against the sunlight, you cast your hand around, searching for the tablet. _Yeah, keep the doors closed, watch on the monitor for…_ Your eyes fly open at the memory of misshapen heads and bodies on a screen. Shooting up, you panic a moment before the wrongness of the setting hits you. You’re in a bed, your bed, in your ratty apartment. There’s no monitor in sight and the only doors you see are the closet door, currently standing ajar, and the door leading out into the hallway, currently shut tight against the world. There is no desk, no monitors, no power gauge, no strange abominations coming to kill you in a hellscape of a restaurant, no kids questioning your sanity. And, more importantly, nothing stopping you from diving for your phone and punching the numbers for Human Resources.  
  
“Hey!” You yell into the mouthpiece the second the dial tone ends. “Hey, I’d like to file a complaint!” What has to be the most unenthusiastic lady on the planet answers.  
  
“Have you been employed at UtaKuma’s for more than one pay period?” She drones, obviously uninterested in your complaint.  
  
“Wha- no, I just started last night, but listen, I-“ Before you can tell her about the killer robots running rampant around their facility, the lady cuts you off.  
  
“Sir,” she drawls. “it’s company policy that Employee Complaints can only be filed by employees who have been employed by UtaKuma’s Pizza Spectacular for at least two pay periods.” Two pay periods, she’d said. And he got paid each Friday, so two weeks… Two weeks of guard duty…  
  
“Are you kidding me!?” You scream into the phone once the implication has sunk in. “You’re telling me that, until I’ve worked for UtaWhatever’s for two weeks, you aren’t gonna take ANY complaints.”  
  
“That is correct sir.” The lady says, completely uninterested. “We’ll be happy to resolve any issues you have at that time.”  
  
“And what if I’m having an issue NOW!?”  
  
“Sir,” she says again, a bit more edge to her voice this time. “That information was in the phone contract that you verbally agreed to when you accepted the job.” The phone contract? You do remember something like that the day you got the job; a veritable wall of text in spoken word that you’d had to listen to for about an hour as it was read aloud, word by word, before saying “I agree” and making your position with the restaurant official. Okay, so you can’t get a complaint through to management. Fine. But you’re still not going back to that place at all.  
  
“Oh yeah?” You ask madly, glaring at the phone and hoping the woman can hear it in your voice. “Well, I quit!” You almost slam your phone closed for a dramatic exit. You almost leave it at that and you almost don’t catch the woman’s next words.  
  
“Sir, our contract also states that new hires must give at least five day’s notice before terminating their employment with us.” This stops you, mid phone-close. Five days notice?  
  
“So what, I can’t quit today? Are you serious?”  
  
“As I said sir, our policies were clearly outlined in our contract which you verbally agreed to.” Damn contracts and damn fine print that wasn’t even technically printed. The woman continues. “If you do wish to end your employment with us without the five day’s notice, then we will be obliged to take legal action against you sir.” Now you’re really glad you didn’t slam the phone shut on her. It was one thing to leave the company in the lurch and not give a shit. But if they could sue you, that was a different story altogether. Still, this doesn’t leave you in a good place. You could either deal with a successful company on your ass for violating a contract, or you could keep working for a week with bloodthirsty animatronics and weird kids. On the phone, the woman continues. “Do you still wish to terminate your employment with us sir?” You really don’t have that much of a choice here. You were desperate for a job when you agreed to this gig in the first place and you really don’t have the funds to pay for a lawyer if they come after you.  
  
“No.” you sigh into the phone, gut sinking in defeat. “That won’t be necessary…”  
  
“Will that be all sir?” The lady asks, sounding like she’d rather do anything other than help him with something else. You’re about to say “No that will be all,” when an idea comes to mind.  
  
“Can I give my five day’s notice now?” On the other end of the line, the woman sighs in annoyance before responding with a series of questions.  
  
“Do you wish to terminate your employment with UtaKuma’s Pizza Spectacular?”  
  
“Yes. I do.”  
  
“Can you tell us when your last date of work will be?” You run a quick calculation in your head before responding. Today was Monday, payday was Friday and Friday was…  
  
“December 19th.”  
  
“And you are aware that you are expected to continue your duties as…” She pauses, possibly looking for what exactly it was that he did. “As a night guard at UtaKuma’s Pizza Spectacular?” That’s new. Probably part of the hour-long phone contract that he really should have listened to. One week of killer robots. You feel the fight go right out of you and your shoulders seem to gain two more tons.  
  
“Yes,” You sigh into the phone. “I’m aware…”  
  
“Excellent.” She says flatly. “We’ll be sure to notify management of your intent to leave our employment. Have a good day sir.” And with that, she hangs up and the conversation is over. You feel your hand and phone drop limply to your side. Four more days until payday… Four days until you could actually leave and find a safer job. You sink back onto the bed and glance at the clock.  
  
[12:30]  
  
You have about 11 hours and 30 minutes before your shift begins. 11 hours and 30 minutes until your certain doom and about 4 days before you're allowed quit. Hell, 4 days before you could even get a complaint to management. Damn companies with their damn long contracts… If it weren’t for that damn “one pay period” policy thing in that contract you could probably get out of this damn job quicker.  
  
You sit up, inspiration striking suddenly. Your head swings towards the clock once again.  
  
[12:31]  
  
Yes, yes you still had time. UtaKuma’s was still open, you might be able to get out sooner. Jumping up, you streak towards the door and get about 5 feet away from your apartment before you realize that you’re still in your work clothes and that, for some reason, you aren’t wearing any shoes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You lost a few minutes changing and hunting for a pair of matching shoes, and the train was a little late, but the restaurant was still in the full swing of lunch when you arrive. Walking towards the door, you can’t help but pause and glance up at the grinning face of the black and white bear. Suddenly, you’re back in the office, door open, power out and flashing light revealing the same eyes and that mouth, grinning manically with the promise of certain doom. Suppressing a shudder, you stride through the double doors.  
  
The place really was quite different during the day. Shrieks of laughter and a few snatches of young kids crying drift down the hallway and the computerized beeps and chirps of arcade games in action waft up from the arcade. As you make your way to the office, a few small children come shooting out of the arcade, nearly colliding with you as they continue to sprint down the corridor towards the dining area. You shake your head at them and stride up to the office, knocking on the doorframe. Luckily, the day guard isn’t as jumpy as you are and simply turns around to stare at you. That being said, with his bulk, he probably couldn’t do anything quickly… Still, this guy may be your best hope at avoiding any inconvenient deaths so you decide to keep any comments to yourself.  
  
“Hey, are you the day guard?” The guy puts on a bright smile and stands up.  
  
“Yes sir.” He replies, striding towards you and gripping your hand in a firm shake. “How can I help you today?” Wow, politeness. Maybe things were looking up?  
  
“Well, I’m Reigen, the new night guard and, well, I kind of have a-“ He doesn’t interrupt you, doesn’t say anything or cut you off, but he may as well have with the way his face immediately shifts from a bright, helpful smile to a rather nasty and thunderous glare. Where the hell had that come from? “I, er, have a complaint that… that I…” This time he actually does cut you off in a low, dangerous voice full of barely contained fury.  
  
“I bet you think you’re a funny guy huh?” He asks, still glaring. You glance around, thinking he must be talking to someone else.  
  
“I, what?” Somehow, his glare deepens even more and the barely contained fury in his voice decides that it would rather be uncontained.  
  
“Well I tell you what buddy, it takes a special kind of heartless monster to mock and mess with the heroes of kids everywhere!” You actually jump a bit at the sudden increase in volume. And you still have no idea what the hell he’s talking about.  
  
“I’m, I’m sorry?” This apparently does nothing to placate the other man and he continues his rant.  
  
“Well, you’d better be, jerk. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything so disrespectful, so out of line, and from an EMPLOYEE no less. Don’t you have ANY respect for these characters? I mean what was management thinking, hiring someone that would-”  
  
“Look!” It’s your turn to cut him off now. “I don’t know what your problem is with me Mr…” In your rage, it occurs to you that you have no idea what this man’s name is. Cutting your rant short, you peer closely at the other guard’s nametag. “Mr. Banshoumaru.” You straighten up, vaguely recalling Ekubo mentioning a Banshoumaru last night, and resume your glaring at this man, Banshoumaru apparently. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I have no idea what the he-“ You cut your rant short once again as high pitched giggling reaches your ears from down the hallway. “What the heck you’re talking about!” Banshoumaru’s face shifts from simply ruddy to take on the exact color of a ripened tomato. Whirling around, he rummages through a box of sorts next to the desk before turning back to him, clutching something in his hands.  
  
“I’m talking about THESE!” He yells, thrusting two objects into your face, just barely missing your nose. You lean back slightly, wrinkling your nose at the stench coming from the shoes. Geez, whoever wore these must have a fungus or something. Alright, but what did you have to do with two shoes… Two shoes… And then you remember your bare feet from this morning, the fact that you don’t remember removing them upon coming home…  
  
“My… shoes…” You murmur, eyes going wide. Banshoumaru nods furiously.  
  
“I found THESE onstage with PonPon.” The hamster… And then you remember last night, taking them off in the bathroom, the hamster looking out of the bathroom door, shoe-shaped objects clutched in its hand… Paw…  
  
“I, I didn’t put them there…” You stammer out. Banshoumaru doesn’t look too convinced and continues to glower.  
  
“Bet you think it’s funny huh?” He repeats, thrusting the shoes into your arms. He opens his mouth to continue, but you’re not up to listening to his diatribe this time.  
  
“Look,” You cut in before he can continue. “I didn’t put it there! I left the office to grab some kid and-“  
  
“And you let a kid in after-hours!?” He shoots back, face settling in an odd place between furious and scandalized. You shake your head.  
  
“He snuck in or something but listen! I left the office to get the kid and had to take off my shoes so those damn THINGS in there wouldn’t catch me and kill me!” Silence falls over the office as you pant and try to catch your breath. Banshoumaru looks confused at your ranting as if he can’t quite process what you’re trying to tell him.  
  
“You, you think they were trying to kill you?” He asks skeptically and you’re reminded of the guard from this morning. You sigh and run a hand over your face in exasperation.  
  
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” You sigh. Now that you have his attention, even if he’s pissed or something, you might as well keep going with your plan. You remove your hand from your face and look up at Banshoumaru, struggling to read his expression. “I need to file a complaint with management, which I can’t do apparently because I only started working yesterday, so I need someone who has been working here for more than a day to help me file a complaint. Got it?” Banshoumaru continues to stare at you before closing his eyes and shaking his head.  
  
“Look,” He sighs, shoulders slumping, rage apparently forgotten. And then he really surprises you. “I’m sorry.” You blink, shocked for a moment and Banshoumaru continues. “I forgot it was your first night. You probably didn’t hear about their free-roaming function and thought they were out to get you or something. Listen, at night, we usually leave the animatronics on-“ The shock is gone and your frustration has returned.  
  
“I know about the free roam!” You snap. “Ekubo told me last night. These... these THINGS came after me and tried to kill me which is why I need your help!” Banshoumaru just stares at you as if you’ve grown an extra head or something.  
  
“Come here.” He says and gestures for you to follow him. You decide to oblige and he leads you through the hallways of the restaurant, towards the source of the laughter and shrieking and music. “Mr. Reigen, was it?” He asks, glancing behind at you. You nod as the two of you stride through the double doors and into the dining area. “Look at that,” Banshoumaru says, gesturing around the spacious room.  
  
It’s brighter during the day, most likely due to the sun streaming through the glass ceiling. It’s also noisier with tinny recorded music blasting through the speakers stationed on stage and around the room. The kids are also a nice change. Sort of. They’re certainly noisier as they run around the dining area, in and out of the playpen and the curtain concealing Kero’s Corner and even in front of the stage, clamoring to see the animatronics, stiffly moving and jerking around in a way that suggested singing and dancing. Beside you, Banshoumaru continues.  
  
“Now, if there were any danger, if our animatronics posed ANY threat to anyone’s safety, would we really let them run amok around children?” You have to fight down the urge to run up to the stage and personally drag every single child away from there. Banshoumaru doesn’t notice the low rumble of panic bubbling in your stomach and claps you on the shoulder. “Like I said,” He continues. “The free-roaming thing probably caught you off guard and you got spooked.” He gives a small chuckle as one of the kids topples backward while trying to clamber up onstage. “It happens all the time.” You nod absentmindedly as the child’s mother darts towards him, only to slow when the kid stands up and continues trying to elbow the other children out of the way.  
  
Banshoumaru turns and starts heading back towards the office. You turn to follow him, glancing over your shoulder before striding through the door. The animatronics are all up on stage, PonPon, TachiTama and UtaKuma, still going through the motions, still imitating singing and dancing. It could just be your imagination, it could just be nothing, but you’re fairly sure you see PonPon, turn towards you and stare into your eyes for a moment before returning to her drums. You give a quick glance around the dining area before turning back towards the stage, frown on your face and furrow in your eyebrows. Confident that no one is watching, you promptly extend a shaking middle finger in the general direction of the hamster. A small gasp meets your ears and you quickly withdraw your hand, whirling around to meet the wide eyes of a kid, hand over her mouth and staring at you, absolutely scandalized. Sweating now, you decide that maybe you should get out of there and turn around to follow Banshoumaru. He’s not too far ahead and hasn’t really noticed you’re no longer by his side, continuing with his rambling.  
  
“I’m sorry, what was that?” You ask as you catch up.  
  
“I said it’s kind of funny.” He replies. “The last guard was pretty terrified of the animatronics as well. He barely lasted a week.” Your brow furrows as you think about this news. Something about the last night guard.  
  
“The last guard…” You murmur to yourself, trying to remember what was so important about him.  
  
“Yeah.” Banshoumaru replies, staring at you. “He was kind of a weirdo, always carried this tape recorder with him.” And then it hits you.  
  
“The tapes!” With that, you’re off, sprinting towards the office with a mad grin on your face. Banshoumaru is close on your heels, confused expression to match your smile.  
  
“The what?” He puffs as you round the corner to the security office. You spare him a brief glance as you slide into the office.  
  
“There are these tapes!” You exclaim, eyes scouring the desk for that recorder. Where the hell had you left it last night? “They’ll prove there’s something wrong with those things!” You give up on the surface of the desk and fall to your knees to root around on the floor. No, not down there either. Under the desk maybe. “No…” you murmur when you don’t see a scrap of black plastic anywhere. “No no no no, where are they?” A hand claps you on your shoulder and you practically jump out of your skin. Turning around, you see Banshoumaru staring at you, brows raised and hand extended.  
  
“What are you talking about?” He asks, turning his hand slightly and standing up. “What tapes?”  
  
“There were these, these recordings or, or whatever.” You say, taking his hand and allowing yourself to be pulled up. “I, you said he always carried a recorder around, so he made these recordings and he literally gets attacked by something on one of them!” All Banshoumaru can do is stare at you and question your sanity.  
  
“Yeah,” He says after a moment, still staring at you. “The last guy quit after one week and we had to hire you.” This does nothing to assure you that the last guard did not meet his sticky end at the hands of an animatronic.  
  
“He quit.” You ask Banshoumaru. He nods and you’re still not assured that nothing fishy is going on.  
  
“Yep. After one week.” Banshoumaru says, still nodding as he returns to his desk. “It’s weird actually. We’ve never been able to hold onto our night guards for more than that. They always quit after 5 days.”  
  
“I… I see…” You mutter, shoulders slumping in defeat. Going by Banshoumaru’s reaction, it didn’t look as though you were getting him to file any complaints anytime soon… You turn to leave, glancing back over your shoulder at Banshoumaru. “Thanks, and I’m sorry about the hamster.” He shrugs and gives a small chuckle, still checking the monitors.  
  
“Eh, you probably could have done a lot worse.” He drops the chuckle and turns to face you, deadpan expression coming out of nowhere.“But if I find out you’ve been fu-“ He pauses once again when a kid’s shrieking laughter bubbles through the office door. “If I find out you’ve been… been messing with the machines again, you bet your, your behind management will hear about it.” You can’t help but give a small laugh at Banshoumaru’s attempts to censor himself.  
  
“Sure thing.” You say through the chuckles. Banshourmaru doesn’t look too amused by the whole thing and jabs a finger in his general direction.  
  
“And don’t let anymore kids in.” It takes you a moment to remember what he’s talking about. Yeah, you did mention a kid in the restaurant after hours, didn’t you?  
  
_“Are you trying to die?”_  
  
“You got it.” You reply, not feeling up to protesting at the moment. “No kids.” Banshoumaru nods decisively and turns his eyes back to the monitor. Having no more business in the restaurant for now, you head towards the door, throwing a half-hearted wave over your shoulder at Banshoumaru. Upon leaving the establishment, you glance back once again at the grinning bear over the entrance. Once again, you find yourself back in the office, power out, lights flashing and bear grinning manically at you while you screamed at a kid who may or may not have been there to run. You shake your head, clearing the vision and stride away, glancing at your phone.  
  
[2:08]  
  
You still have hours before your shift. And yes, despite your better judgment, you are going back tonight. You gave your “five days notice” bullshit, and you’ve already agreed to the whole “continue your duties until the termination of your employment” nonsense so you’re kind of stuck here. Five days. Counting tonight, you only have about four left. Four more nights of dark restaurants, creepy robots and kids who disappear as soon as the clock strikes 6:00. If you can handle four more days of that nonsense, then you quit and you dust off your resume to find a nice job with hours that align with a normal sleep schedule. If you can’t…  
  
Your thoughts trail off as you navigate the streets back to your apartment, turning from thoughts of your career to thoughts of what you’d like as a last meal. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The restaurant looms at night, somehow managing to pull off the whole “dark and foreboding” feeling while wearing a giant smiling bear on the front. Somehow, you’re less intimidated this time around when you stride up to the doors, dressed in your uniform, hat and all, and armed with another bottle of Tiovita 2000. Ekubo is waiting for you at the doors this time and before he can get off a word, you shove a piece of paper at him and stride into the hallway.  
  
“The hell is this?” He asks, peering warily at it.  
  
“My will.” You reply, completely deadpan as you settle into the office. You don’t have many possessions, and you have even less people you can leave things to, but your parents might appreciate the extra cash they can glean by selling them. Ekubo opens the paper up, scans it and scoffs.  
  
“And you didn’t leave me anything.”  
  
“I barely know you.” You shoot back and he chuckles, crumpling the paper and tossing it back towards you.  
  
“Hey, you made it through the first night dipshit.” He calls out, turning around and sauntering towards the front doors. “After that everything else should be a breeze.” He’s silent for a moment before his head pops back around the door. “By the way,” He says once your heart is no longer in your throat. “That shoe-thing you pulled with PonPon was hilarious.” You just stare at him, remembering the gigantic shape of the hamster standing outside the bathroom, shoe in hand.  
  
“Hilarious.” You agree flatly before turning back to the desk. As Ekubo saunters out once again, probably laughing about how pissed Banshoumaru was, you direct your gaze to the clock.  
  
[11:58]  
  
Two minutes. You have two minutes to get out of this place. Two minutes to change your mind. You remind yourself that you probably don’t have to go through with this. That you might be able to afford the cost of a second-rate lawyer if you grovel and beg your parents for forgiveness and money. With shaking fingers, you open your bottle of Tiovita and take a swig before glancing at the clock again.  
  
[12:00]  
  
[100%]  
  
Well so much for that idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, Night 2 begins! And some quick trivia. At the moment, UtaKuma's employs 4 security guards with 6 hour shifts each. Banshoumaru's the Secondary Day Guard and takes the shift from 12:00pm to 6:00pm. Ekubo is the Primary Night Guard and works from 6:00pm to 12:00am before handing things off to Reigen, the Secondary Night Guard, from 12:00am to 6:00am. Then, Reigen's shift ends and from then on, the restaurant is the problem of the Primary Day Guard from 6:00am to 12:00pm and the cycle begins again... Yeah... Probably no one cares about that... Anyways, a quick shoutout is in order! Thank you to tsunafishisys and TheNightWatcher for their comments on Chapter 2. Also, thanks to everyone who left Kudos as well. As always, I'll see you in the next chapter!


	4. Night 2: Cross Functional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time moves forward, a deal is struck and somehow you wind up taking a second, unpaid, part-time job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back to my roots for this fic and got this chapter pumped out in a day (and knowing my English and writing skills, it probably shows...) We're back into the fray and things start to go off the rails right from the get-go. Reigen also gets an assistant of sorts and another part-time job... sort of...

Immediately, you bring up the monitor and find CAM-01. The stage. PonPon, Tachi and Kuma are still there, unmoving, asleep. You almost lower the monitor before you remember Spare Parts. Not even taking the time to blink, you switch over to CAM-09: Spare Parts and immediately your stomach drops to the floor. He’s still there, curled in on himself, not moving.  
  
“How in the hell…” You mutter before the camera sputters and goes black for a second. Your stomach barely has enough time to drop to the basement of the restaurant before things are back online. The image that pops up is almost worse; blank eyes containing no emotion whatsoever are shoved impossibly close to the lens, staring at the camera. No, at you.  
  
Flying backwards, away from the monitor, you stifle your cry with a hand, briefly reflecting on the fact that being quiet would be pointless seeing as how your office has the only light in the restaurant at this hour, there’s no way they don’t know where you are. Ok, so the kid moved. Did anyone else move while the cameras went out just then? You slide your chair towards the door on the right, jamming your thumb on the light switch. Nothing outside. Better check the other side. Still nothing. Much calmer, you decide you’d better check the cameras again. Pulling up the monitor, you briefly note that the eyes watching you from spare parts have vanished before…  
  
“You really are trying to die.” In hindsight, you really should have known the voice was coming, but that doesn’t stop you from leaping into the air and diving for the door button.  
  
“Oh what the _hell?!_ ” You gasp, whirling around as the door slides shut. The kid is back, standing in the open door frame on the other side of the office and staring at you with those same expressionless eyes on the camera. Your fear gives way to annoyance and you furrow your brow. Really, this really is getting ridiculous. “You!” The kid blinks a bit as you whip an accusatory finger in his direction “How the he-“ Instinctually, you cut yourself off. This kid can’t be more than eight or nine. “How the heck did you get back into the restaurant?“ The kid tilts his head with a puzzled expression.  
  
“Get back?” He says, not really getting at what you’re saying. “I can’t leave.” You’d been prepared for a few possible answers, he snuck in, stole some keys, something like that. It’s your turn to tilt your head in confusion now.  
  
“Can’t leave?” The kid nods and you sigh through your teeth. You get that this restaurant is really popular with kids, but this was a new extreme to you. “Geez do you just live in this place or something.” The kid shakes his head in reply.  
  
“Not exactly, I died here.”  
  
Died here…  
  
The kid…  
  
Didn’t live here…  
  
“Oh…” You murmur, still trying to take in what the kid just told you. “You died here. Okay.” The kid nods frantically before replying.  
  
“Yes. Anyway-“ You’re in no mood to listen to him right now, nor are you going to let him get away with changing the subject on you.  
  
“And now I expect you're haunting this place waiting to take vengeance on your murderer or something.” This gives the kid pause and he contemplates this for a moment.  
  
“Well, that would be nice,” He mutters, staring off into space for a moment. “but I don't even remember how I died.” For some odd reason, you find this a bit surprising. You’re not an expert on the subject, but you’re pretty sure ghosts have the opposite problem.  
  
“You don't?” The kid shakes his head, starting to get impatient.  
  
“No, I don’t think any of us do. Anyway, I need to talk to you.”  
  
“Talk.”  
  
“Yes, see-“ A shuffle from somewhere to your right grabs your attention and you motion for the kid to shut up. He complies, probably heard the shuffle too, and you swiftly press your thumb to the light switch. The wide eyes and grinning maw of a hamster greets you right outside the door frame and you waste no time jamming your thumb down on the button. The door slams shut and you throw yourself back into the office.  
  
“Shit!” You mutter, turning back towards the monitor, flipping frantically through the cameras. The hamster is nowhere to be seen (still outside the door probably) and you can just make out the weasel hanging out in a storage closet. The bear is still onstage, looking directly through the camera and into your eyes. “Oh shit.” You mutter once again, flipping the monitor down and moving back towards the right door. The hamster is still there and you really don’t have it in you to concentrate on both the robots and the kids at the same time. “Look kid, I don't have time to-“  
  
“You need to help us.“ He says, cutting you off and you turn around to meet his near glare. There are so many things wrong with what he just said. What do you owe him? If anything he owes you for risking your neck last night. What makes you think I NEED to help you? Of all the things wrong with that idea, you’re attention is instead drawn to the last word.  
  
“Us?” The kid nods again, still with that almost glare on his face.  
  
“Me. And the others. We're trapped here.“ The others. There are others.  
  
“You mean,” You stammer, still staring at the kid in the middle of your office. “You mean there’s more of you?” The intense look in the kid’s eyes subsides a bit and he glances off to the side, avoiding your gaze.  
  
“Sort of.” He murmurs, almost as if he’s guilty. More of the kid. More ghost kids wandering around the restaurant. More kids who probably died there. Here. Briefly your thoughts turn to the kids from earlier today, yesterday. Clambering over each other to get onstage, likely playing and eating pizza and enjoying life likely five feet from where the corpse of a kid lay once upon a time…  
  
You suppress a shudder and turn your thoughts back to the matter at hand. More ghost kids running around the restaurant. And yet this one is the first you’ve seen.  
  
“Well why haven’t I…” You trail off and glance behind you at the door. The hamster is no longer there, but you can almost see her grinning face and wide eyes through the window of the door; demonic, intimidating. “Oh…” You mutter, leaning over and releasing the door. Nothing flies through to attack you, so you and the kid are safe for the moment. Speaking of, the kid nods again, confirming your suspicions.  
  
“They're in the robots.” He says. “Their souls, they're trapped in there.” You nod in response.  
  
“Souls.” You murmur. “Ghosts trapped in the robots.”  
  
“Yes.” You pause, trying to take everything in. There are ghost kids in this restaurant. There are ghost kids in the restaurant and most of them seem to be in the robots. Trapped the kid had said. And since night one, those robots had been trying to…  
  
“So, what you’re saying,” You say, fixing the kid with a stony gaze. “What you’re saying is that you want me to help these freaks that have been trying to kill me since night one. That sound about right?” The kid gives you another nod and a smile, hard tone of voice and cold look going clean over his head.  
  
“Yes.” He replies, still smiling. “Pretty much.“ You stare at him, dumbfounded by the request for a moment before your attention is drawn to the red numbers above on the desk.  
  
[2:02]  
  
[50%]  
  
50%? You look towards the doors. They’re both open, lights are off, so what’s draining you? The cameras. You look at the desk and realize that you’ve left the monitor up this entire time. Diving towards it, you shove it back down before turning back to the kid. He’s still smiling up at you the gremlin.  
  
“I don't think so.” You say before turning back to the desk and flipping the tablet up. From behind, you hear the kid sputter a little bit in shock before you turn your attention back to the cameras. Nothing in the hallways, or in the cafeteria, but the Weasel is hanging out in spare parts for some reason and judging by the sounds from the kitchen, the hamster is somewhere in there. The kid is still behind you, still forming a coherent sentence.  
  
“But, you-“ Deciding that things are pretty hunky dory at the moment, you have no problem abandoning the cameras for a second to turn around. You feel for the kid, really. Dying and not remembering anything had to be tough, but you had enough on your plate tonight to be worrying about someone else’s problems.  
  
“Look,” you tell him, trying to keep the edge out of your voice. “I've got about, 50% power left and your "friends" out there are going to make me use it up.” You glance over your shoulder at the display once again and feel your shoulders slump a bit. “Make that 47%… “ You mutter, sitting back down and picking up the monitor to flip through the cameras once again. The weasel is out of the kitchen now, standing in the hallway outside the office and staring at you through the camera. The hamster is nowhere in sight and you desperately flip through the cameras to find it. And then the kid speaks up again.  
  
“You helped me that first night.” He says softly and you can almost see him looking down at the ground. “I thought you'd want to help them too…”  
  
_Not really…_ You think, still concentrating on the cameras. The hamster is hanging out in the arcade, back to the camera and staring at one of the games. You flip back to the hallway camera. Okay, the weasel is still there. You can spare a moment. “Look,” You turn around and the kid looks up at you. “Can't you get anyone else to help you? Banshoumaru? Ekubo, or that other day guard.” The kid shakes his head.  
  
“I don’t know who any of those people are.” He says. “Besides, we can’t do anything until midnight.” You run a hand over your face, collecting your thoughts and turn back to the cameras. Bear onstage, weasel in the hallway, hamster in the arcade. You lower the monitor and reach for your Tiovita, struggling to get the cap open. You take a swig, caffeine flowing through your veins as you glance at the display.  
  
[3:03]  
  
[43%]  
  
Another sip of Tiovita goes down your throat and you turn to address the kid.  
  
“Look, until 6:00 I’m stuck here and I really don’t think I’ll find any clues in this office with your friends in the animatronics breathing down my neck.” You say and the kid snaps his eyes towards yours. You look away uncomfortably before continuing. “Besides, I’m only here a few more days. Come Friday I’m out of here.” The kid doesn’t respond, still thinking over your earlier words most likely. As you turn back to the monitor to check on things, the kid speaks.  
  
“Then I’ll help you.” You forget about the monitor, forget about the robots right outside and give the kid your full attention.  
  
“What?” The kid pauses a bit, considering his next words carefully.  
  
“Let’s make a deal.” He says, determination finding it’s way back to his eyes. “I'll help you survive until you quit, and in return, you can get out of here and help us.” The kid’s looking at you, determination in his gaze and smile on his face as though he genuinely believes they can do it. You almost agree to his terms, you almost get caught up in this kid’s belief, but years of experience has taught you that things rarely work out when you charge in blindly relying on emotion. After all, you’d snapped this job up at the first chance and look where that got you. Turning towards the kid, you try to ignore the small smile. Someone has to be the devil’s advocate here, so it may as well be you.  
  
“And just how are you going to help me?” The smile slides right off the kid’s face and he starts concentrating, trying to think of something in response. You turn back to the desk and look at the monitors.  
  
[3:35]  
  
[38%]  
  
You turn back around for a moment, mouth open to address the kid only to find the room eerily empty. Just as you thought, the kid had nothing to offer. You get to work, pushing your uneasiness to the back of your mind and ignoring how hollow the office felt without another person, ghost, to talk to. It’s been a while since you’ve checked the cameras so you quickly pull up the monitor. The hamster is still in the arcade, still staring at the games. The weasel has left the hallway.  
  
Slamming the monitor down, you take barely a second to think about which hallway it had been in (left or right?) before deciding on right and pressing your thumb to the light switch. The grinning face of the weasel looms above you and you throw yourself on the red button, door slamming shut before you even have time to scream. Maybe you’re getting the hang of this. And then you promptly fall out of the seat when a loud banging resounds from the bowels of the restaurant. You click the lights on outside the left door, noting that the weasel had left before pressing the button once again and opening the door.  
  
You crawl back to the desk, forgetting the chair and pulling up the monitors once again. The hamster is out of the arcade and in the hallway now, facing away from the camera, towards the cafeteria. The weasel is in the cafeteria, similarly positioned, as if heading towards the stage. The bear is still onstage, still looking right at the camera. And then you get to the CAM-09, Spare Parts and you just make out something twitching slightly in the camera’s peripheral, knocking against a shelf and clanging away.  
  
“The hell?” You murmur, staring at the camera until it shorts out, going black before coming back up. This time the weasel is in Spare Parts, staring at the camera. You lay the monitor down and once again your heart finds a home in your throat when the voice sounds behind you.  
  
“I can help you.” You spin around, glaring at the kid and clutching at your chest, heart pounding.  
  
“Jeez will you stop that!” The kid ignores you and continues with his idea.  
  
“I can help. They aren't outside the office anymore, right?“ You pause. The kid is right, the weasel is in spare parts and last you checked the hamster was headed in the same direction.  
  
“No… “ You admit before something hits you. “Wait, that was you in spare parts?” The kid nods, looking fairly proud of himself.  
  
“I can distract them if they get too close to you, draw them to different parts of the restaurant.” You blink. This kid might be onto something. Said kid looks behind you, at the red numbers on display. “That way you won't have to close the doors, or check the cameras and you won't use up so much power. That is how it works, right?” You blink, slightly impressed that the kid had figured the power system out on his own.  
  
“Yeah, more or less…”  
  
“Then, this way you won't use up all your power and you can help us when you leave this place in the morning.” You pause, staring at the kid.  
  
“Look, kid…”  
  
“Please. There isn’t anyone else…” The kid’s back to begging again and to his credit, he’s pretty good at looking desperate. You glance towards the monitors on your desk.  
  
[4:00]  
  
[20%]  
  
There’s no way you can make it to the end of the night on your own, not without some help. The kid’s plan seems pretty solid and he doesn’t look like the he’s capable of lying to anyone. He’s also got a point about your power; you really need to be more aware of how you use it. And what do you have to lose anyway? Some free time during your day? You don’t do too much anyway, don’t go anywhere, see anyone. And you only have until the end of the week. Once the pay period’s up, this kid is someone else’s problem.  
  
“Alright…” You sigh and the kid positively lights up. “Alright. I'll see what I can do when my shift's up.” The kid almost looks close to tears as he nods his head.  
  
“Thank you. So much.” And with that, he’s gone from the office, off to who knows where in the restaurant and you’re left alone again. You shake your head, trying to clear your thoughts. You must be going mad if you’re starting to miss the company of a ghost. Multiple ghosts if the kid is to be believed, but you’re not too keen to meet the others up close just yet. You reflect on the kid’s claims, resting your elbows on the desk and your chin on your palms. Ghosts. Again, you’re no expert on the subject. In fact, you didn’t even believe in ghosts until quite recently. But all the stories you’ve heard involving otherworldly phantoms usually involve the same predicament; unfinished business. What unfinished business could these ghosts have with the restaurant, and what did it have to do with you?  
  
You turn these thoughts over in your head as you stare at the clock and watch your powers supply slowly tick downwards. Occasionally, you hear a loud banging from somewhere in the restaurant, (kid at work probably) and you check the doors, just incase. No hamsters, weasels or bears meet you when you flick the lights on and you feel yourself slipping into a sense of comfort. The kid was right. You can do it. Just to be safe, you pull up the cameras and flip around. Hamster in the kitchen, weasel in the prize corner, bear onstage, frog peeking out of the curtain.  
  
Frog?  
  
You flip back to CAM-01C. Kero’s corner. The curtains are now open and you can barely make out the googly eyes of what looks like some kind of frog peeking out from behind them. That hadn’t happened before…  
  
“Um, sir?” And just like that your security is shattered and you find your heart in your throat for the third time that night. The kid has returned, somehow looking fairly frazzled and a bit more transparent than you remember him.  
  
“Would you stop doing that?” You pant, remembering to push the monitor down. The kid, once again, ignores your complaints.  
  
“I just thought you should know.” He says, almost out of breath. “PomPom is in the kitchen and TachiTama has moved to the prize corner right now.” Still panting as your heart slides back to your chest, you check the display behind you.  
  
[5:15]  
  
[13%]  
  
45 minutes to go on 13% of power. So long as the kid keeps everyone distracted and you don’t check the camera too much, you can make it.  
  
“Right.” You say, turning back to the kid and flashing a quick thumbs up. “Got it. Thanks.” The kid stays right where he is and peers at the desk.  
  
“Why are you still checking the cameras? I thought it uses up your power.”  
  
“It does.” You say, pulling it back up and switching to the image of the frog peeking out of the curtain. “But I’d love to know why this guy is suddenly awake.” The kid peers at the monitor for a moment.  
  
“You mean KaiheiKero?” He asks, pulling away and you return the monitor to the desk. “I don’t really know. I think he just likes attention.”  
  
“He likes attention…” You murmur. Great. Now these things want _attention_ of all things. Beside you, the kid nods with a weary motion of his head.  
  
“I think so.” He says. “Anyway, why are you still checking the cameras? I thought we had a deal.” You turn back to him, fixing him with another one of your glares.  
  
“We do, so how come you're over here if TachiWhatever is about 10 feet away from the office?” The kid straightens up, eyes going wide and non-existent spine going stiff.  
  
“Oh. Right!” You barely blink and he’s gone again, off to some other part of the restaurant. You sit back at the desk, resting your head on your hands once again and mulling over your situation, mind going back to the frog and the curtain.  
  
“Attention huh?” You murmur and you steal a glance at the display.  
  
[5:50]  
  
[9%]  
  
You know it’s a bad idea. You know that you need to save your power incase the kid fails somehow and the weasel or the hamster gets to one of your doors and you need to keep it closed. Still, you pull up the monitor and flip to CAM-01C. The frog is right where you left him, peeking out behind the curtain. You feel silly for a moment before a familiar shuffling reaches your ears. You slam the monitor down and fly towards your right door. Nothing. Onto the left. The weasel is right outside, grinning madly in the flickering light above the door. You don’t even scream before you slam your hand on the door button. The steel door slides home and you turn around to check your monitors.  
  
[5:58}  
  
[1%]  
  
“Fucking useless ghost brat.” You growl as the you check the light above the door again. The weasel is still there. You turn back around, preparing to make a break for it when the ghost brat in question appears in front of you, haggard and somehow out of breath.  
  
“Sorry!” He pants, barely visible now. “I, I'm so sorry!” Were you in a different situation, you would probably assure the kid that it’s alright and that it isn’t his fault and that mistakes happen. But you’re trapped in a restaurant with a mad robot that may or may not be possessed outside your door with only 1% of your power standing between you and your certain doom. You’re not in any mood to be comforting.  
  
“What happened to the whole deal thing?!” You ask, reaching out to grip the kid’s shoulders only to pass right through him. “Or was that just bait!?” The kid shakes his head at you frantically.  
  
“No!” He yells right back “No, that’s not what I-“ You both freeze as a deep chime resounds through the restaurant.  
  
One  
  
Two  
  
Three  
  
Four  
  
Five  
  
Six  
  
The familiar shuffling sounds from behind the steel and you reach out, releasing the door and watching as the nondescript shape shuffles back. Now that the danger is past, you can’t stop the small feeling of guilt from nestling in your belly. In the end, the kid helped you out. Hell he’d even saved your ass. You turn around, mouth open, apology on your tongue.  
  
The office is empty and you find yourself alone for the third time that evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I'm trying something new when it comes to chapter titles and using executive jargon that kinda sorta fits with the events of that said chapter. This time, we have Cross Functionality: When something works in multiple directions simultaneously. Food for thought. With that out of the way, how about another bit of trivia that no one cares about... I got nothing for this chapter... Sorry. I've lied to you... But that means we can get to the shoutouts faster! Thank you to WhisperWillYou, Sirtoastyxiii and TheNightWatcher for their comments on the last chapter. A big thank you to those of you who left Kudos on this fic as well. That about wraps up the notes, so I'll see you in the next chapter: Drill Down.


	5. Day 2: Drill Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talks are had, notes taken, and throughout the whole thing you can't help but start to feel sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy Cannoli... It's really been a while hasn't it? Really sorry about that! I don't want to go into too much detail, but let's just say... real life kicked my ass... Holy moly did real-life kick my ass these past few months... Anyways, here's a brand-spanking new chapter with lots of Nancy Drew-ing around. Hope you enjoy after a scant few months!

Maybe it's because you're becoming desensitized to the horrors within the restaurant. Maybe it's because the clock already struck 6 and the things are shuffling back to their stage. Maybe it's because you have the promise of a ghost that you'll make it through the work week. Whatever the reason, you don't jump out of your skin when the morning guard knocks on the door frame.  
  
"Rough night?" He asks, smiling sympathetically. You turn to look at him and spare a small nod of your head. Still smiling, the guard walks into the office and sits at the desk.  
  
"Animatronics try to kill you again?" He looks back at you, still smiling somehow and you can barely find it in you to nod.  
  
"Yeah…" You reply faintly. "They almost got me this time…" The guard's smile gets a little more strained, a little more pitying and ye pulls up the monitor.  
  
"Well," He announces, flipping through the cameras. "They're all back on stage now, ready to start a new day of singing to kids and annoyed parents for hours on end." You swallow heavily, trying to remember the Kid's words from the night before.  
  
"We can't do anything until midnight." He'd said. And Banshoumaru and Ekubo didn't seem to have your problems with the Animatronics, so it seemed as though the universe was singling you out somehow.  
  
"Right." You murmur, rubbing your eyes. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." The guard nods and turns back to the monitors.  
"Yeah. And try to get some sleep." You don't bother with any nodding or replies this time and simply give a dismissive wave of your hand as you exit the office.  
  
Get some sleep he says. Yeah right. Like there was any chance that would happen. The scenery passes by in a blur as you make your way home, odd looks from the passengers fading into the background as you head home.  
  
"Five ghosts." You murmur as the bus grinds to a halt and you can practically feel the information slipping around your exhausted brain as you make your way towards the run down apartment complex.  
  
"Five spirits… and they're all trapped in the restaurant…" You somehow find yourself in bed, staring at the clock as the numbers tick from 6:30 to 6:45. Then to 7:00, then 7:25.  
  
You sigh and throw off the covers. After rolling your shoulders and surveying the room for a second, you start rooting around the mess on your floor. There should be some paper, a notebook, an old bill or receipt somewhere, any kind of paper. You're not going to get any sleep today, so you might as well get to work.  
  
"Okay." you mutter as you come up with a battered marble notebook and pencil stub. "Okay, where to start…" You tap your chin with the eraser for a second, turning over what you know. After a minute or two of racking your brains, you start scribbling on the paper.  
  
_Four dead kids_ You begin your notes. That's where the whole mess came from right? A thought occurs to you and you make a change to your notes.  
  
_~~Four~~ Five dead kids. _ After all, your ghostly companion certainly counted as a dead kid. So whoever these kids were, they were obviously murdered. Or were they kids? The ghost hadn't mentioned any ages… You make another quick addition to your notes. _~~Four~~ Five dead kids?_ Okay, so if anyone had gone missing around UtaKuma's, it would certainly make the news, right? You grab your laptop and wait for it to boot up.  
  
_Missing Persons, Spice City_  
  
Your eyes widen as you're bombarded with thousands of results at once.  
  
"Okay…" You murmur and consider how to narrow the results down. "I'm not looking for any missing people, they had to have died in UtaKuma's." Your fingers tap against the keyboard as you edit your search.  
  
_Missing Persons, Spice City, UtaKuma's Pizza Spectacular._  
  
A single, lone article pops up.  
  
_"CEO of Suzu Entertainment Company Accuses UtaKuma's in Ongoing Investigation._ Hello, this looks promising. You follow the link and skim the article.  
  
"Touichirou Suzuki…" You mumble to yourself. "CEO Of Suzu Entertainment accuses UtaKuma President, Kirin Shoudou of foul play in the disappearance of his son, Shou Suzuki, following the latter's birthday party at an UtaKuma establishment. Despite allegations against UtaKuma's Pizza Spectacular, no evidence of foul play has been found as of yet." You pause, jotting down more notes.  
  
_~~Four~~ Five dead kids?  
Shou Suzuki, missing after party at UK December 1st._ You pause to check the date mentioned in the article. _1 year ago…_  
  
_So,_ You think to yourself, tapping your pencil against your chin. _Shou Suzuki goes missing after his birthday at UtaKuma's, but nothing was ever proven and the investigation was dropped…_ It seems to fit with what the kid told you. This Shou kid died in the restaurant, but nothing was proven and no killer was found. That was one dead kid down, now what about the other four? Humming slightly, you bookmark the article. Maybe you could check it out later, in case you missed something. Anyways, you figure that a change of angle might help and you go back to the article.  
  
_Despite the significant lack of evidence, Mr. Suzuki maintains his stance that UtaKuma has a hand in his Shou's disappearance. As of yesterday, claims against UtaKuma's have been dropped with no word from CEO Kirin Shoudou._ You decide to try scanning the rest of the articles. It's a mistake; they mostly say the same things on repeat; Shou goes missing after his birthday, father claims foul play, nothing was proven, investigation was dropped. A few of them even had pictures of a grinning kid, red hair standing on end, mischief apparent in his eyes, even through the lens of the camera. Compare that to pictures of his father, this Touichirou Suzuki and you really can't see the resemblance at all. You decide to abandon looking up information on Shou's case for a moment and decide to go for another angle. _UtaKuma's Pizza Spectacular._ Once again, millions of results pop up as soon as you hit enter. Thinking for a moment, you click the first link and find yourself on the official UtaKuma webpage reading a blurb on how the franchise got started.  
  
_Back in 1988, the esteemed Kirin Shoudou visited the United States as a representative of XXX Entertainment Company to meet with the owners of an esteemed family restaurant, Freddy Fazbear's. After being treated to a meal by the owners, Shoudou was struck with inspiration and, upon returning to Japan, resigned from his position with XXX Entertainment to establish his own business. After two years of hard work and determination, the first UtaKuma's was established in Spice City and remains a beloved establishment in the hearts of children both old and young._ You blink, skimming the blurb again. So you're working at the original UtaKuma's… You can't help but think that it would be pretty neat if the animatronics weren't trying to kill you. Either way, you've managed to narrow down your search a bit.  
  
_Missing Kids, UtaKuma's, 1988 to Present._  
  
Once again, the only result that comes up is the article about Shou Suzuki that you've already read. _Wait…_ You think, rubbing the dirt from your eyes. _Nobody could prove that UtaKuma's was involved with Shou's disappearance…_ You quickly remove "UtaKuma's" from your search and refresh the page. That gives you more results and you grab your notes.  
  
_~~Four~~ Five dead kids?  
Shou Suzuki, missing after party at UK December 1st 1 year ago.  
Other Missing Kids:  
Tome Kurata, Missing December 19, 1989  
Mameta Inukawa: Missing April 8, 1998  
Hikaru Tokugawa: Missing May 28, 1993  
Teruki Hanazawa Missing April 13, 2013  
Daichi and Kaito Shiratori: Missing October 9, 1997  
Gou Asahi: Missing: March 19, 2004  
Shinji Kamuro: Missing July 14, 1995  
Shirihiko Saruta: Missing June 20, 1994  
Momozou Takenaka: Missing September 25, 2013  
Emi Nakahara: Missing June 13, 1999  
Haruto Kijibayashi: Missing November 27, 2000  
Ritsu Kageyama: Missing May 23, 2013  
Chihiro Fujisaki: Missing February 14, 2009  
Mari Yukihara: Missing March 1, 2009  
Minori Asagiri: Missing January 21, 2013  
Rei Kurosaki: Missing August 29, 2008_  
  
17 kids. 17 kids missing between 1988 and this year. You swallow past the lump in your throat and try review what you have written.  
  
"Five of these kids died at UtaKuma's…" You murmur, flopping onto the mattress. "That means that five of these kids died in the restaurant, somehow…" You're eyelids begin to slip closed against your better wishes and you keep turning things over in your head. _Shou's probably one of the five, so that leaves four…_ Lazily, you reach up with your pencil and draw a wobbly circle around Shou Suzuki's name. _Four kids, died in UtaKuma's…_ You think back to yesterday, remembering the kids climbing over each other to get to the stage. _The place is usually busy during the day… There's no way a kid could have been killed in broad daylight… And they couldn't get in at night…_ Suddenly, your eyes fly open and you're wide awake.  
  
"The cameras." You gasp, shooting out of bed and hunting for clean clothes. There were cameras all over that place. If anything happened anywhere in the restaurant… You glance at the clock as you throw a sweatshirt that didn't smell suspicious over your head.  
  
[1:28]  
  
You pause and blink for a second. You must have been in bed later than you thought… Shaking your head, you continue to pull on socks and shoes. Whatever. 1:28. That means that Banshoumaru would be on duty. You haven't pulled anymore "pranks" on the animatronics, so you mentally cross your fingers and hope that he's feeling cooperative today. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You want to see camera footage?" You nod as more high pitched giggles and joyful shrieks greet your ears. Across from you, Banshoumaru is wearing an honestly puzzled look.  
  
"Yes." You reply and you hope you don't have to go any further than that. Banshoumaru sighs and shakes his head.  
  
"Sorry…" He says and to his credit, he seems genuinely remorseful. "But here at UtaKuma's, we delete camera footage about 24 hours after it's recorded…" You practically feel your jaw get well acquainted with the floor and you seriously wonder how this company managed to keep itself going with security like this.  
  
"Seriously?" You ask and Banshoumaru nods slowly.  
  
"Seriously. I mean, think about it for a second. We'd be up to our ears in video files if we saved everything from the day we got these cameras installed. Besides-" He cuts himself off, eyes going wide as if he accidentally revealed too much information before wheeling around to face the monitor again. Well now that was certainly something.  
  
"Besides what?" He remains hunched over, eyes firmly glued to the monitor, pointedly ignoring you. "Banshoumaru?" He sighs heavily and you can practically see the sweat pouring down his face.  
  
"It's nothing," he replies and you can hear a slight tremor in his voice. "It's just… It's just that some punks broke in about two years ago and stole some footage." Well hello now. You blink and raise an eyebrow at Banshoumaru. He's currently looking down at the floor, sweat still dripping down his face, brows furrowed.  
  
"Footage of what?" you ask and he sighs heavily once again.  
  
"It's nothing," He replies with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just a minor incident that happened back then, it's really nothing." Judging by his reaction to the entire matter, you highly doubt it's nothing.  
  
"Nothing?"  
  
"Well…" Banshoumaru trails off, still unable to meet your eyes. "Look, this is a great place right?" He says, abruptly loping up and fixing you with a pitiful stare. "I mean, adults don't really go for this sort of thing, but the kids really love it here and it's always been a priority to make sure that customers are safe and satisfied." You nod, silently prompting him to continue. "So, two or so years ago, one of the animatronics went…" He sights yet again, as if it's painful for him to even continue thinking about it. "It kind of went on the fritz and a kid got…" He swallows and you feel a pit sink into your stomach. "Well, it didn't really end well… Anyway, UtaKuma's kind of got a lot of heat for the incident and our reputation's been dropping ever since. On top of that, we've been getting complaints about the animatronics." Complaints about the animatronics? This gets your attention and you winder if any of the complaints involve the animatronics trying to kill people.  
  
"Like what?" You ask.  
  
"Like they smell funny. Or that there's some kind of… Some kind of discharge coming out of them or something… Stuff like that…" He swallows heavily and pastes a tired looking smile on his face. "Well, anyway, our P.R. person managed to keep the incident mostly under wraps, a real miracle worker that woman, and we've been trying to recover our reputation ever since." You nod once again, trying to take in all the information you've been given.  
  
"And what about the videos?" Banshoumaru gets that pitiful look back in his eyes again and he rubs his neck with a palm.  
  
"Like I said, some, some punks broke in somehow during the day and managed to get their hands on a tape of the incident. Ever since then, we've been deleting unused video footage." Okay. That still doesn't seem like a good enough reason to start deleting archives of video footage, but okay.  
  
"Why would they want a video of some kid getting hurt?" You ask, genuinely curious now and Banshoumaru looks off to the side, visibly uncomfortable.  
  
"Well," He trailed off once again. "The kid didn't just get hurt, he died." Your blood goes frigid and you remember what the ghost kid said about himself and his brethren.  
  
"He died in the restaurant?" Banshoumaru nodded once.  
  
"Tragic really, the family was pretty torn apart afterwards." He swallowed loudly, rage taking over his features. "And those," He glances around quickly, making sure that nobody else can overhear you. "Those assholes posted it on the web…" The rest of his sentence fades away as you process the words. You wish you could have a hard time believing him, wish that you could believe that nobody could be that depraved, could sink that low.  
  
"Oh." You murmur and you can almost feel the bile rising in your throat. Across from you, Banshoumaru has a similar sickened expression and he swallows loudly.  
  
"Yeah… I mean the assholes were caught and arrested, but it was too late and the video had circulated around the web already." He sighs heavily, appearing much more tired than when you first came into the office. "It, it's really been a rough year for UtaKuma's… Anyway, that's why we've been deleting footage. Better delete it rather than some psychopath get their hands on it and…"  
  
"I get the picture…" You say, raising your hands to stop him in his tracks. You want to move on, but you can't help that small bit of morbid curiosity. "Which one?" You ask  
  
"Oh, GyuuNyan." Your eyebrow quirks upwards as you try to remember the names of the other animatronics. There was the Weasel, TachiSomethingOrOther. Then the Hamster, PomPom you think, UtaKuma himself, whatever was behind the curtain in "Kero's Corner," probably named "Kero" or something… You don't think you've ever heard of this "GyuuNyan," whoever they are.  
  
"GyuuNyan?" Banshoumaru nods.  
  
"Yep. GyuuNyan. The Cat who loved milk. Needless to say she was dismantled and decommissioned after that. Management even ordered some spring lock suits so that stuff like that wouldn't happen again."  
  
"Spring lock suits?" A small smile graces Banshoumaru's face before he's off.  
  
"They're kind of like animatronics that could double as costumes. I think the idea was that employees could wear the suits to interact with the kids, then take them off and put them onstage when it was showtime." You can see why he's so excited. If they weren't trying to kill you, the idea of wearing the animatronics as a suit is kind of cool.  
  
"So, why didn't the idea stick?" Banshoumaru gets that uncomfortable look again and he pauses a moment before speaking again.  
  
"See, the thing is that the suits compress all the crossbeams and endoskeletons against the inside of the suits. Then when the locks are released, the endoskeleton fills the suit and it becomes an animatronic again."  
  
"Really…" You reply, various images, most of them graphic, rising in your mind. Banshoumaru nods and continues.  
  
"Thing is, the locks were _really_ sensitive and if you so much as breathed funny, they'd release the endoskeleton too early and, well whoever was wearing the suit would be crushed." He holds his hands in front of his nose, wringing them together for added effect. "Obliterated. Nothing left but your eyeballs and teeth. So we just kind of left them in spare parts." You vaguely recall seeing a cat suit somewhere in the back room.  
  
"I, I see…" You murmur, trying to remember everything to write in your notes later. "Thanks for telling me this." It couldn't have been comfortable to admit any of that, especially to a near stranger. "I really appreciate it." Banshoumaru nodded and the discomfort was replaced by curiosity.  
  
"It's no problem" He replied. "But if you don't mind me asking, why to you want to know this stuff?" Now it's your turn for sweat to bead on your face. You'd been so worried about asking questions and what you should be asking that you hadn't thought of a plausible explanation.  
  
"Well…" You say, eyes darting around the room. "Well I'm a new employee and…" You trail off and Banshoumaru's face breaks into a grin.  
  
"And you wanted to know more about UtaKuma's Pizza Spectacular, right?" You nod, not wanting this opportunity to pass you by. It's a believable excuse and you didn't even have to make it up yourself.  
  
"Yeah." You exclaim. "And since you're a seasoned employee I figured-" He cuts you off with a wave of his hand and another wide smile, the grim conversation from earlier almost forgotten.  
  
"Say no more, you've come to the right man." Still grinning, he turns around to face you fully. "What else can I help you with?" He's in a good mood and you really don't want to spoil it by asking more about missing kids and horrible violent things that happened in the past.  
  
"Well…" You try to find a good topic, casting your eyes around the office until they find a scribbled drawing on the wall depicting a frog, a weasel, a hamster, and a bear. The killer robots themselves. "What else can you tell me about the animatronics?" Banshoumaru hums softly, thinking for a moment."  
  
"Well they're actually really advanced pieces of tech for a kid's restaurant." You blink in surprise, wondering why a company would spend so much on singing robots.  
  
"Really?" Banshoumaru nods firmly, eyes glowing with an odd sense of pride.  
  
"Yep." He says. "They've got built in facial recognition software as well as connections to the Police Database of well known criminals and kidnappers." You feel your eyebrows practically disappear into your hairline and you find only one word to properly voice your feelings.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Like I said," Banshoumaru answered with a wide smile. "Safety and fun are our priorities here at UtaKuma's Pizza Spectacular! If any one of those criminals wanders onto the premises, they'll recognize them and alert the police." You pause for a moment to take it all in. It's almost easy to see why the guy admires the animatronics so much.  
  
"That's… That's actually pretty cool." Banshoumaru's smile somehow gets wider and he nods in agreement.  
  
"Yeah. They can also recognize naked endoskeletons too and are even capable of putting a costume on one." This grabs your attention.  
  
"Why would they be programmed to do that?"  
  
"Well we've got to stay in character here at UtaKuma's, right?" Banshoumaru gives a small chuckle. "Remember how I was telling you about the night watchman before you? The guy with the tape recorder?" Well you remember his panicked screams, that's for sure.  
  
"Yeah, what about him?"  
  
"Well, he had this weird theory that the animatronics were trying to stuff him in a suit. Crazy, right?" Banshoumaru lets out another chuckle and you feel the blood leave your face as your imagination supplies several ideas about just what happened to the last night guard.  
  
"Right, crazy…" You stand, swaying slightly and gulping loudly. "I, I think I'd better go." Banshoumaru's face falls, likely disappointed at losing a fellow animatronic admirer.  
  
"You sure?" he asks and you nod slowly.  
  
"Yeah, thanks for the talk." He looks at you for a moment, almost as if he's debating whether or not to question you before shrugging nonchalantly and turning back to the monitors.  
  
"No problem." He says and you spare him a small wave as you stroll out of the office. You pull a scrap of paper from your pocket along with your pencil and start scribbling whatever you can remember.  
  
_"Bite" Incident, 2 years ago, decommissioned animatronic (GyuuNyan, Cat)_  
_Video of incident stolen, somewhere on Internet?_  
_"Spring lock" suits commissioned, then decommissioned (unstable locks or something…)_  
_WILL CRUSH YOU TO OBLIVION, DO NOT PUT ON_  
_Animatronics are REALLY advanced._  
_Facial recognition, Police Database Connections_  
_Recognize naked endoskeletons (mistake human for one?)_  
  
Upon returning home, you pour over the notes, both on the paper and in the notebook, drowsily blinking as you feel your eyelids slide closed. You try to remember the last time you actually slept more than a few hours. Last night was it? Or was it technically last morning? Either way, you feel you rheas nodding slowly as the words on the page run together, blur and fade before going black. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
_The whole thing wouldn't have happened if you hadn't invited Tsuyoshi. After all, it was supposed to be YOUR day at YOUR party and everyone was supposed to pay attention to YOU that day. And then your stupid mom made you invite the whole class, including stupid Tsuyoshi who'd brought his new game. Seriously. Who brought a video game to a birthday party? What kind of person does that?_  
  
_Come to think about it, the whole thing wouldn't have happened if those commoners hadn't started flocking around him to watch him play when it was YOUR day. How stupid could you get. Everyone knows that you always pay attention to the birthday kid. especially when it's THEIR birthday party. Especially when YOU were the one who invited them. And what right did they have to throw you out after the whole ball pit thing? No one could prove that YOU broke Tsuyoshi's nose… Even if you were the only two in the ball pit at the time…_  
  
_And you didn't even get your cake! You didn't even get your cake on YOUR birthday and how the heck was that even fair? It was YOUR birthday, you should have gotten cake. You'd done the commercial, you were the Birthday Kid, You DESERVED that cake! So of course you were going to leap at the chance when that guy offered you cake!_  
  
_…_  
  
_You really wish you knew where that guy went. He'd promised you cake after all. But you never got your cake and now you're stuck behind this curtain and no one is looking at you anymore. It sucks. It really just sucks. You're a star, a marvel. All eyes should be on you! And the guy has the NERVE to come back after ditching you and leaving you here like that. He won't even look at you anymore! Nobody looks at you anymore! And it's not even Tsuyoshi, or the other kids, or even this place's fault really._  
  
_It's his fault._  
  
_If that guy hadn't offered you cake after getting thrown out, you wouldn't be here._  
  
_If it hadn't been for that guy, all eyes would be on you._  
  
_If it hadn't been for that guy, you wouldn't be trapped here._  
  
_Well, then. You'll just have to take care of him._  
  
_Like you took care of Tsuyoshi._  
  
_You'll take care of him, get out of this place, and then._  
  
_Everyone will pay attention to you again._  
  
_…_  
  
_You can hardly wait._

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Slowly you come back to awareness. You must have dozed off. Good thing too, you'll need all the rest you can get for your next shift. Cracking a yawn, you glance at your clock.  
  
[9:27]  
  
Okay, about two hours left before your shift begins. Casting a hand around for your laptop, you pull it onto your lap and open the search engine. Might as well see what else you can find. Your fingers hover over the keyboard, eyes scanning your notes, mind slowly coming back into awareness. What can you follow? What haven't you already checked out.  
  
_UtaKuma, Animatronic Bite_  
  
A small handful of articles pop up, all from about 2 years ago. Clicking on one that seems promising, you peer at the article. No photos, just a wall of text. Scanning the text, a name pops out.  
  
"Shigeo Kageyama…" You mutter. The name sounds familiar somehow. Kageyama was it? Kageyama… Hadn't there been a "Kageyama" someone or other on your list? Pulling out your notes, you glance at the names on the list once again.  
  
Kurata, Tokugawa, Kamuro… Yeah, there it is. Ritsu Kageyama, missing May 23rd… About a week after this "Shigeo Kageyama" was killed in the "bite" incident. You wonder what the kid looks like and you search the remaining articles in the handful. Nothing. No picture, no images, nothing… Maybe a more direct approach would be better.  
  
_UtaKuma, Animatronic Bite, Picture_  
  
Still nothing. Banshoumaru had been right about that P.R. lady, she must have been a miracle worker of some sort… You focus on the results in front of you, turning possibilities over and over in your head. There had to be some kind of picture of the kid. Some kind of image or record or something. And then you remember your talk with Banshoumaru. About videos and archives and perverts stealing footage and you start to feel nauseous.  
  
You banish the idea from your mind. No way in hell would you even _think_ of looking up something like that, even if it was for research… Still, your fingers hover over the keyboard, hesitant and waiting. You promised the kid that you would help him. So far, he'd held up his end of the bargain. He did help you through the second night. Or at least he'd tried, even if he hadn't really delivered at the very end there. At the very least, you ought to try everything… Still, you can't help but feel sick as you type the words into the search bar.  
  
_UtaKuma, Snuff Film_  
  
To your immense relief, the only thing that actually pops up this time is articles about snuff films and a link to a documentary about the subject. No videos themselves, no images, no sights advertising murder videos. Sighing heavily through your nose, you pick up your pencil and add onto your notes.  
  
_~~Four~~ Five dead kids?  
Shou Suzuki, missing after party at UK December 1st 1 year ago.  
Other Missing Kids:  
Tome Kurata, Missing December 19, 1989  
Mameta Inukawa: Missing April 8, 1998  
Hikaru Tokugawa: Missing May 28, 1993  
Teruki Hanazawa Missing April 13, 2013  
Daichi and Kaito Shiratori: Missing October 9, 1997  
Gou Asahi: Missing: March 19, 2004  
Shinji Kamuro: Missing July 14, 1995  
Shirihiko Saruta: Missing June 20, 1994  
Momozou Takenaka: Missing September 25, 2013  
Emi Nakahara: Missing June 13, 1999  
Haruto Kijibayashi: Missing November 27, 2000  
Ritsu Kageyama: Missing May 23, 2013  
Chihiro Fujisaki: Missing February 14, 2009  
Mari Yukihara: Missing March 1, 2009  
Minori Asagiri: Missing January 21, 2013  
Rei Kurosaki: Missing August 29, 2008  
Shigeo Kageyama: Died in "Bite" Incident May 12, 2013_  
  
You pause yet again, tapping your chin with the eraser.  
  
_So where does that leave me?_ You wonder, cursing slightly to yourself. You're no detective, you're no good at connecting pieces together. Hell, you'd struggled with those "connect the dots" puzzles back in elementary school. Why had you agreed to this in the first place? Sighing, you put down your pencil and return to the notes. _This Shou kid probably haunting the place, so that's one down, and then there's "Shigeo Kageyama.". Could he be number 2? That would leave 3…_  
  
You want to leave it at that, but you can't shake that niggling feeling of doubt in the back of your brain. You never really believed in ghosts, but you knew the general idea behind them. Someone dies a horrible death that goes unsolved and their frustration carries over to the afterlife. With the other missing kids, it made sense, but Shigeo didn't really fit the same mold. He'd died in front of dozens of others, kids, parents, employees. There wasn't any mystery to solve. No one to blame. _Except the restaurant maybe, but it was an accident, not murder._ Almost immediately you feel a shiver work its way down your spine. Murder? Where had you gotten that idea? No one had said anything about murder, right? You start to feel sick to your stomach again and try not to think too much about it. You shake your head and catch a glance of the clock.  
  
[11:18]  
  
You blink once, twice, and then leap up from your perch in a panic. Your shift begins in 42 minutes and you're not even dressed.  
  
_It's a start._ You think to yourself as you throw on your shirt. _I have no idea what the heck I'm supposed to do with all this, but it's a start._ Placing the hat on your head, you're almost out the door before you screech to a halt and turn around, grabbing the notes off your bed. _Better take this._ And without even pausing to worry about whether you'll make it through this night alive, you fly out the door. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ekubo is waiting for you outside this time as you scramble up to the front door.  
  
"You're later than usual." he growls, arms folded with a sour look on his face.  
  
"Sorry." You pant, skidding to a stop in front of him. "Lost track of time." He shrugs and glances at the papers you still have grasped in your hand.  
  
"Writing another will?" He asks and reaches towards you without waiting for an answer. "Ya leave me anything this time?"  
  
"I barely know you." You snap, pulling the papers back int your chest. "Besides, they're notes." Ekubo grins, cocking an eyebrow at your response.  
  
"About what?" You hesitate again as you pocket the notes. You're still not sure who you can tell about your little investigation and this punk's given you no reason to trust him. Hell, for all you know he could be behind everything.  
  
"None of your business." You reply and stride past him towards the door. Shaking his head, Ekubo follows you, grin melting off his face to be replaced by another scowl.  
  
"Whatever dipshit. The night ain't so young anymore and I need to lock up." You don't even turn back to look at him as you open the door and stride inside.  
  
"Right. Whatever." To your surprise, he reaches out, stopping the door before it can slam closed.  
  
"Okay," He sighs, "What's eating you?" You blink a few times, wishing he would just lock you in and be done with it.  
  
"Nothing." You reply and turn towards the office. Ekubo remains undeterred and you hear him speak up from the doorway.  
  
"Right. You just bite my head off as soon as you come in for your shift. What's up?" You sigh and keep walking towards the office, calling back over your shoulder.  
  
"I've got a long night ahead so just lock me in here and go home already." Faintly, you hear him grumble something about some "other guy" and "a lot more friendly" before hollering back at you.  
  
"As you wish. Night dipshit." And then the lock slides into place and you're left alone in the semi-darkness once again. You sit in front of the monitor, eyes finding the clock.  
  
[11:59]  
  
One minute left. You slap your cheeks lightly, gearing up for the night ahead. Almost as an afterthought, you reach out with one hand, feeling around on the desk for your bottle of Tiovita before you realize that you hadn't bought any with you tonight. You barely have a second to groan about it before the numbers change and you hear the power going down throughout the restaurant.  
  
[12:00]  
[100%]  
  
You just know that this is going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the moment of publishing, it is now 11:42 at night and I have to be up by 5:30 next morning for work so any errors with italics or page breaks will have to wait until later. Before getting to trivia or shoutouts, I do want to apologize for any squick or unfortunate implications that appear in this chapter with the discussion between Reigen and Banshoumaru... It went to a really dark place that I don't like to think about so much and if it's a real issue to anyone, I'll add an archive warning lickety split... Anyways, the chapter title, "Drilling Down," means to "investigate thoroughly." I figured that it fit really well with this chapter given that the investigation into UtaKuma's and what happened to the kids really begins here. Anyways, thank you so much to WhisperWillYou for their comment on the last chapter. A HUGE thank you to those of you who left Kudos as well, even though I haven't been updating regularly. Seriously, you guys kind of gave me back my motivation to keep going and I really appreciate it. That about wraps it up for the notes, so I'll see you all in the next chapter: Python.

**Author's Note:**

> And now for some end of the chapter notes that didn't make it into the opening. As I said before, this isn't a straight up crossover between Five Nights and Mob Psycho. As much as it could work it wasn't the direction my brain went in. Instead, it's a sort of AU and as such, we get a different franchise (UtaKuma's Pizza Palace) and different animatronics (UtaKuma, TachiTan, PonPon, and KaiheiKero.) I do plan on referencing Fazbear's Pizzeria later on in the fic, but that will most likely be in passing and won't be too major of a plot point. Anyways, that's it for the Prologue and I'll see you when stuff gets real in the next chapter!


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